Tohidul Islam is the founder of The Pharmacist Cooperative and a community locum pharmacist and Siddiqur Rahman is one of the directors of The Pharmacist Cooperative and an established GP Pharmacist and medical writer.  Here they tell us why they, and 3 other pharmacists- PS Ambassador Laura Sile, Omar Adnan and Haseeb Aslam – are heading off on an epic bike ride from London to Amsterdam to raise money for PS.

Tell us a little about yourself.

The Pharmacist Cooperative aims to be the largest social network of pharmacists from all sectors in the UK, so that we can all come together on one platform, support each  other and help shape the future of our profession.  We want to work with locums, managers and contractors to ensure fair working conditions, create new services that improve income for pharmacies and work with organisations that represent the profession to unite and shape our future in a way that benefits the public, the NHS and us as individuals.

Why did you decide to become a Pharmacist Support Fundraising Hero?

We wanted to do something to raise awareness of pharmacists to people within the profession and also to the general public.  We have to help one another in this profession and this was the way we decided to get involved.

What hero fundraising activities have you got planned?

5 of us are planning to cycle an epic 136 miles from London to Amsterdam during the August Bank Holiday weekend with the help of Ihsan and Alisdair in the support vehicle.  As well as raising money for Pharmacist Support we are also supporting Shelter in this charity bike ride.  As pharmacists we come across many homeless patients in our line of work and have a duty of care to serve them, especially as we have unfortunately seen an increase in the number of homeless people in the UK.

Why is Pharmacist Support important to you?

Pharmacist Support is an organisation that truly works well with our ethos at the Pharmacist Cooperative and they have been supporting the pharmacy profession and their loved ones in their time of need since 1841.

With more and more Government Pharmacy cutbacks, workplace pressure, salary drop and shortage of pharmacists for example, Pharmacist Support is needed more than ever before and we hope to raise awareness together for this fantastic independently run charity.

Why do you think others should join the Pharmacist Support Fundraising Hero team?

The Pharmacist Cooperative firmly believes in giving something back to the pharmacy profession.  As well as being rewarding it’s exciting knowing that we are contributing to the world of pharmacy to raise awareness  of this fantastic charity.

We want to ensure Pharmacist Support remains relevant and that it is able to continue to support pharmacists in their time of need. We encourage everyone else in the profession to do the same, get behind YOUR charity PS and together let’s help this fantastic cause continue to be around for many years to come.

The bike riders set off from London on Saturday 24th August 2019.  You can support and donate to their fundraising page here.