The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7223 p669
9 November 2002

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Pharmacist loses repetitive dispensing strain injury appeal

A pharmacist who claimed that checking prescriptions while working for Boots The Chemists had given him a repetitive strain injury in his left shoulder has lost an appeal on his case.

Derek Spencer claimed that recurrent pain and restricted movement in his shoulder was the result of checking prescriptions when he was manager of the Bulwell, Nottingham, branch of Boots between 1991 and 1997. He said that he spent long hours raising his left arm while checking prescriptions.

Lord Justice Mance, sitting at the Court of Appeal with Lord Justice Latham, said on 31 October that the Bulwell store was one of the busiest in the country, with December 1996 being particularly pressured. "On any particular day, Mr Spencer could deal with as many as 250 prescriptions with an average handling time of 37 seconds."

However, the judge observed that Mr Spencer had worked at the store since 1991 with no previous complaints and a risk assessment would have been unlikely to identify the repetitive lifting manoeuvre as a hazard.

Mr Spencer, who now runs his own pharmacy in Eastbourne, Sussex, sued Boots for £70,000 damages. The claim was initially dismissed by a Brighton County Court judge who ruled in March last year that Boots could not have reasonably foreseen that he might suffer injury.