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Rex Features
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Pharmacists will for the first time face suspension from practising
because of ill health under new regulatory procedures expected to be
in place
by the end of the year. The Government is also due to give the Royal
Pharmaceutical Society new powers to attach conditions to a pharmacist’s
right to be able to continue to practise because of ill health.
These landmark changes are expected to be brought in through the Pharmacists
and Pharmacy Technicians Order 2006 made under Section
60 of the Health Act 1999 (which went out to consultation last week — PJ, 1 April,
p371). But the Society is keen to reassure pharmacists that the new system
will benefit the profession as well as bringing greater public safety.
Shona Coy, head of the Society’s fitness to practise and advisory
service, says: “We are not looking to punish anyone. We are looking
to ensure that pharmacists are fit to carry out their professional responsibilities
and continue with the profession for which they have studied for many
years. We are looking to ensure that when they go into practice they
will continue to practise safely.”
Around half of all health cases brought to the attention of the Society
raise concerns about a pharmacist’s ability to practise due to
drug or alcohol misuse. Another 40 per cent involve serious mental illness
such as bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, and the remaining 10 per cent
of cases involve more general health concerns, including obsessive-compulsive
traits. Mrs Coy says: “It is particularly difficult managing the
cases regarding drug misuse because pharmacists often have access to
drugs in their day-to-day pharmacy practice. The Society will encourage
research into the issues surrounding impairment of fitness to practise
as a result of ill health.”
There is nothing in the present professional regulatory system which
allows the Society to act swiftly on health grounds if a pharmacist is
putting patients at risk. The Society will write to a pharmacist if concerns
are raised about his or her health and fitness to practise. The letter
will set out the concerns raised and request the pharmacist to complete
two forms — an undertaking form and a medical consent form. The
undertaking form includes a statement for the pharmacist to sign, declaring
that he or she will not practise the profession of pharmacy if his or
her ability to do so is impaired for any reason. But the present system
falls short of suspension from practice and is dependent on the willing
co-operation of pharmacists and their own recognition that they have
a health problem.
The current disciplinary committee of the Society — the Statutory
Committee — can only deal with misconduct and conviction cases.
Where a misconduct issue is investigated and it is found that the pharmacist
has health concerns, there is no provision to handle the case other than
through the disciplinary channel, which in many cases is inappropriate.
The new regulatory system being created under the Section 60 Order will
create four new regulatory committees — an investigating committee,
a disciplinary committee, a registration appeals committee and, for the
first time, a health committee.
The health committee will be given the power to suspend pharmacists on
the grounds of ill health and will be able to act at short notice if
necessary. Eleven clinical advisers will be appointed to provide independent
medical advice to the hearing panel. The advisers will have at least
10 years’ experience of practice and hold full registration with
the General Medical Council. The advisers will have expertise in the
clinical areas of post-natal depression, bipolar disease, drug and alcohol
addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, general psychiatry, occupational
health and general practice. Mrs Coy says: “We are recruiting for
the advisers at the moment and they will be expected to sit when the
committee sits, for up to a maximum three days a month.”
Assessors
The Society is also in the process of recruiting a team of 20 medical
assessors who will take on the responsibility of compiling medical
reports on pharmacists who are brought before the health committee
on the grounds of ill health. The assessors will come from a range
of medical backgrounds and will be expected to have a minimum 10 years’ experience
and be a member of their relevant royal college.
Mrs Coy says: “It’s important that these assessors have excellent
communication skills, be able to write reports and be able to form a
medical opinion on a registrant’s fitness to practise.” Under
the present system medical reports are obtained from a pharmacist’s
GP or consultant. Mrs Coy explains: “In the future, the assessors
will examine the registrants and provide a comprehensive report detailing
their current health and provide an opinion regarding their fitness to
carry out their professional duties.”
The medical assessor will present his or her report to the committee
when it sits to consider the case and the assessment will take place
in the region where the registrant lives, if possible. The assessors
will be able to recommend if any conditions should be attached to a pharmacist
being allowed to continue to practise. This could include restrictions
on access to Controlled Drugs or the number of hours a day he or she
is allowed to work. The assessors will also have to organise any necessary
medical tests for the pharmacist and compile follow-up medical reports
for the committee. Mrs Coy says: “We are currently considering
what sort of conditions will be appropriate and how these conditions
will work in practice. The Society will be consulting on the Rules that
will be made under the Order. The Society welcomes feedback from members
on issues such as placing conditions on practice, what type of conditions
will work and implementing supervision of a
registrant.”
The Society has been lobbying the Government for a change in the procedures
around professional regulation and health, and welcomes the changes.
Mrs Coy says: “We have been pushing for new legislation with regard
to health issues. The new system has many benefits from a public safety
point of view because it can place conditions on a registrant’s
fitness to practise and, in the more serious cases, suspend a pharmacist
from practice. It is also about considering the welfare of the pharmacist
and to get to a situation where, through rehabilitation, they are confirmed
by a medical practitioner to be fit again to undertake their duties as
a pharmacist.” |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal