Amendment made to Society’s guidance on “Raising concerns”
Following the July meeting of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s Law and Ethics Committee an additional section has been made to “Raising concerns: guidance for pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians”, which was published as a centre pull-out in The Journal of 30 April.
The guidance provides advice for pharmacists and technicians who may
have concerns about a health care practitioner’s fitness to practise.
The new section has been added to advise those who may need to balance
a duty of confidentiality with their duty to report concerns.
The Society says: “Pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians
have a professional responsibility to act quickly to protect patients
by raising concerns if they have good reason to believe that a colleague
or other health professional may not be fit to practise for reasons of
health, conduct or competence.
“However, it is recognised that pharmacists and registered pharmacy
technicians may acquire information relating to the health, conduct or
competence
of a health professional to whom they have a duty of confidence (eg,
where the health professional is a patient or client). In these circumstance
pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians have to balance their
duty to respect and protect confidentiality with their commitment to
protect patients and the public from risk.”
Lynsey Balmer, the Society’s head of professional ethics, said: “The
amendment is intended to inform pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians
that, where a duty of confidence exists, they would not normally be expected
to disclose confidential information unless, for example, they believe
that the health professional may pose a serious threat to the safety
of themselves, a patient or the public.”
The new section 9 is set out overleaf in the same typestyle as the 30
April PJ pull-out so that it can be cut out or photocopied and
kept with that document (amended PDF 170K). The existing sections 9 to
12 should be renumbered 10
to 13.
A revised version of the guidance is also available to download from
the practice guidance section of the Society’s
website.
9. Raising concerns where a duty of confidence exists
During the course of professional practice,
or when undertaking volunteer work, pharmacists and pharmacy
technicians may have a
patient or
client who is a health care professional. As part of this they
may acquire confidential information relating to the health care
professional’s health, conduct or competence. Pharmacists
and registered pharmacy technicians are expected to respect and
protect the confidentiality of information obtained in the course
of their professional activities. Where a duty of confidence
exists, the principles of confidentiality require that patient-
or client-specific
information is not disclosed without consent, other than in exceptional
circumstances. An example of such exceptional circumstances is
where disclosure is necessary to prevent serious injury or damage
to the health of a patient, a third party or to the public.
At times pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians may
be required to balance their duty to respect and protect confidentiality
with
their duty to protect patients and the public from risk, if there
is good reason to believe that the health care professional may
not be fit to practise. In these circumstances pharmacists and
registered
pharmacy technicians will be required to use their professional
judgement to determine whether, based on the information they
have, they believe
that the health care professional may pose a serious risk to the
safety of themselves, other patients or the public. If so, pharmacists
and registered pharmacy technicians must act quickly to inform
an appropriate person, authority or regulatory body.
In circumstances where the health care professional’s health,
conduct or competence is not considered to pose an immediate danger
to patient or public safety, confidentiality should be respected.
Pharmacists and registered pharmacy technicians should, however,
endeavour to encourage the health care professional to seek appropriate
help or support to try to prevent problems escalating to a point
where fitness to practise may be compromised. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal