The scheme that NHS England launched to enable volunteers to deliver pharmacy medicines may result in prosecution if there is a fatal misstate made or bad advice given. The patient might ask “how do I take these?” Or “are these safe with my other medicines? The medicine could be diverted or delivered to the wrong door.
The pharmacy must train the delivery drivers, they must check that they are insured and they should have a DBS check. The pharmacy staff are at risk with so many patients presenting with potential symptoms, adding additional volunteers is putting the pharmacy staff at more risk.
Chief executive of the General Pharmaceutical Council, Duncan Rudkin, speaking on behalf of the Regulator said that responsible pharmacists using volunteers wouldn’t have anything to worry about if something went wrong. But what if someone were to die as a result of a mix-up with medicines or the volunteer without PPE dies. Patients and relatives will remember that it was the pharmacy provided an unsafe service. The pharmacy or the volunteer could end up in civil or even a criminal prosecution and the GPhC would be powerless to help.