The Society

 Law and Ethics Bulletin

An occasional feature, prepared in the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Professional Standards Directorate, to highlight problems and inquiries currently being handled

Responsibility and delegation
Checking pharmacists’ credentials

`Responsibility and delegation

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Professional Standards Directorate is frequently asked about responsibility and delegation and the need for a pharmacist to check every prescription.

To fulfil both legal and professional requirements, the pharmacist must be in the professional area of the pharmacy and able to intervene in the dispensing process and the sale of pharmacy medicines. However, there is nothing in the regulations to state that a pharmacist must check each prescription.

Clearly, the pharmacist has a professional responsibility to use his or her expertise to carry out a clinical check to ensure a prescription’s appropriateness. Accuracy checks, however, could be delegated to suitably competent staff. One benefit of delegating this task is that the pharmacist will be in a better position to exercise full professional supervision over all aspects of the pharmacy, particularly with regard to counselling patients and offering advice when giving out prescriptions or selling non-prescription medicines.

Where tasks such as accuracy checks are delegated, the pharmacist in charge will retain overall responsibility. It is essential, therefore, that the pharmacist in charge ensures that safe systems of work are in place and that tasks are only delegated to staff who have had suitable training and are competent and confident to undertake such tasks.

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Checking pharmacists’ credentials

Pharmacists are reminded that when employing other pharmacists, either as locums or as permanent employees, they should make suitable checks to confirm their registration status. When employing a locum through an agency, checks should be made as to whether the agency has verified the pharmacist’s bone fides. If not, employers must make their own checks.

Pharmacists should also take up references for prospective employee pharmacists because registration status checks alone will not guarantee that a pharmacist will be a satisfactory employee.

The Society’s registration department can be contacted to confirm a pharmacist’s registration. Requests for information can be sent by fax (020 75824279) or e-mail (registration@rpsgb.org.uk). Alternatively requests can be made by telephone on 020 7820 3399 ext 234/235/236/237.

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