It is a wet Saturday morning and I am having a coffee and reading the headlines in my Pharmaceutical Journal , I have stumbled on the article
“Warning for pharmacist guilty of motoring offences ”
The young man had been rather heavy with his right foot on several occasions and light with the right hand when asked to provide details of the driver at the time of the incident, he also made a very flippant remark as to why he had not reported his convictions to the Registrar.
The Registrar commented :
” Professional regulations only work s if professionals reveal to their regulators all matters which the public would consider the regulator has to investigate ” and the young man was issues with a warning part of which stated:
“……… must understand that he must not do anything in his private life that will lessen public confidence in the profession”
This is a stark reminder to us all and I know that over the years I have been caught by a speed camera and it might not have crossed my mind to inform my regulator.
I am also reflecting on the article ” RPS says locum pharmacists should be protected when they whistle-blow”. I feel this is long overdue and the old school we all stick together and do not discredit a fellow healthcare professional have gone be it Doctor or Pharmacist have gone. I have worked as a locum on occasion , and I have come across examples of bad practice , patient safety issues, and potentially dangerous conditions in a pharmacy and have often reflected on the course of actions available to me as a locum just there for the day. Mostly I would just not take a booking there again! It is even harder now for locums as the work is harder to come by.
The GPhC and PRS have issued guidelines on raising concerns and whistle-blower and CQC also run a whistle-blowing telephone line for people concerned about care.
Currently Pharmacist are not covered by the Public Health Disclosure Act (PIDA) and this makes it very difficult for them to speak in confidence about public interest concerns.
We are all professionals and I am also sure that Superintendent Pharmacists and Responsible People ( MHRA) would welcome reports from locums and staff. Speaking as a Contract RP , I am responsible for the actions of my wholesalers and their staff but I cannot be there all the time and I rely on people following their QMS , conducting self audits and also having a transparent learning culture. I encourage all the staff not to be frightened to bring issues to the table and we will find the root cause of the deviation or complaint and take the appropriate corrective action. IT is much better for staff to raise the issues than a customer or a regulator.