Police inaction angers Essex pharmacist
Brian Conn, a community pharmacist from Romford, Essex, has expressed his anger at what he sees as the reluctance of the police to take action on information he supplied to them following an assault in his pharmacy.
Mr Conn is manager of Barry Shooter Pharmacy in Chadwell Heath, Romford.
He told The Journal that on 17 December 2003 he was assaulted and momentarily
knocked unconscious by a young man while in the dispensary.
Just before the attack, Mr Conn had taken photographs of the man and
his companions who were causing a disturbance in the pharmacy. He used
these photographs to identify the man and his address.
“I offered this information to the police, but they told me that,
in effect, it was privileged information covered by data protection rules.
They
seemed really reluctant to take it,” Mr Conn said.
The Society’s Code of Ethics puts a duty of confidentiality on
pharmacists and their staff with respect to patient information, including
personal details held in the pharmacy. However, police officers can make
written requests for information to be disclosed without patients’ consent
where this is deemed necessary “to assist in the prevention, detection
or prosecution of serious crime” (‘Medicines, Ethics and
Practice’ July 2003, p87). |
