The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7378 p678
3 December 2005

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News summary

Ethics code could fetter discretion, NPA warns

Professional discretion will be fettered if the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's new Code of Ethics follows the prescriptive form of its current version.

That is the view of the National Pharmacy Association set out in its response to the Society’s recent consultation (I, 8 October, p466 PDF (50K)).

The NPA says that a new approach is needed. An ethical framework should be set out, rather than comprehensive guidance that is intended to cover all eventualities.

The NPA takes issue particularly with the way the current code sets out service specifications. This, it suggests, is generally unnecessary since the new pharmacy contract sets out service specifications that pharmacy contractors are obliged to meet. Instead, any new code should simply refer to recognised professional standards wherever they exist.

Guidance should be developed when there are no existing standards, but this should be separate from the Code of Ethics itself.