Fórsa representatives will meet HSE management at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in late August for talks on hospital pharmacists’ grade reforms. The meeting is designed to facilitate further discussions on enhancing grading structures, value for money reforms, and talks on the value of specific grades and their associated roles.

The changes to grading structures and savings reforms were recommended by the ‘McLoughlin report,’ published in 2011. Implementation of the report’s recommendations had been delayed, but discussions on implementation have since resumed.   

Hospital pharmacists had been refusing to provide value for money data in order to initiate talks on the implementation of recommendations. The instruction not to provide data has been lifted ahead of the WRC meeting, following agreement of pharmacists to cease the instruction at a consultation in June.