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Letters to the Editor
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Locum pharmacy
Standard operating procedures and self-employed status
From Dr R. J. Schmidt, MRPharmS
I have recently seen advertising literature pronouncing that locum pharmacists
who sign up to the standard operating procedures in a particular pharmacy
will be treated by the taxman as being employed by that pharmacy. In
other words, they will lose self-employed status. The same literature
cites the National Pharmacy Association as being the source of this advice.
The solution, it seems, is for locum pharmacists to carry with them their
own SOPs. Again the NPA is cited as the source of this advice.
If all this really is the advice of the NPA, then I would respectfully
suggest that it has been badly advised. This advice does not fit comfortably
with my understanding of the nature, origin and purpose of SOPs, or with
my understanding of employment law relating to self-employed pharmacists.
First, the act of “signing up” to the SOPs in a pharmacy
could, at best, be regarded as one of the tests that the taxman might
apply, along with a number of other tests (for example, whether or not
the individual holds a key to the premises) to determine whether a individual
is employed or self-employed. The reason why this would be a valid test
is because employee pharmacists would or should be named on pharmacy
SOPs and would or should have been invited to sign them by any employer
who understands the nature and purpose of SOPs.
Second, there is no good reason why a locum pharmacist should sign up
to a pharmacy SOP. The only “SOP” a locum pharmacist needs
to carry around is a copy of the latest edition of “Medicines,
ethics and practice — a guide for pharmacists”. The SOPs
in a pharmacy then simply need to place an obligation on regular (employed)
dispensary staff to monitor the locum pharmacist, drawing his or her
attention to any acts or omissions that do not comply with the dispensary
SOPs. If the locum pharmacist can demonstrate to the regular staff that
their SOP conflicts with the guidance in “MEP”, then this
should be sufficient to trigger an urgent review of the SOP. Equally,
if the locum pharmacist cannot defend his position, then he will be obliged
to change his behaviour, or face dismissal or worse. It is important
to remember that we all have a professional and legal duty to react to
perceived breaches in standards whether by ourselves or by other pharmacists.
If improvements do not occur, these breaches should then be reported
to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society or the primary care trust or both.
Not to do so is itself professional misconduct whenever patient safety
is being put at risk.
It may be adduced from the above that the way forward is simply for dispensary
SOPs to include a paragraph that describes how regular employed staff
should monitor the behaviour of the locum pharmacist and how they should
react to any acts or omissions that conflict with a dispensary SOP. I
wrote such a paragraph about a year ago and lodged it with John Murphy
at the Pharmacists’ Defence Association with the instruction to
pass it on to anyone seeking advice on the subject of locums and SOPs.
Perhaps the NPA would like to clarify its position on this matter?
Richard J. Schmidt
Barnoldswick, Lancashire
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JOHN D’ARCY, chief executive, National Pharmacy Association,
replies:
There has recently been some confusion over the status of locums
who sign
a pharmacy’s standard operating procedures. Our professional advisers
have confirmed that it is not necessarily the case that a locum has
to have his or her own set of SOPs to be self-employed. He or she can
still
be self-employed and adopt a pharmacy’s SOPs provided that he
or she is generally engaged on a sessional or daily basis and performs
only
the statutory requirements of a pharmacist and not those of a manager
(such as supervising staff, cashing up and reordering non-pharmacy stock).
In using the pharmacy’s SOPs the locum is acting under the general
practice guidance on SOPs issued by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.
Please be aware, however, that this is generic advice and circumstances
are subject to change. Information is available on HM Revenue & Customs
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