New minister clarifies “responsible” rule
In general, there should be one responsible pharmacist per pharmacy, health minister Andy Burnham said last week.
Commenting on the proposed legislative changes, he said the Government
believes that “the general rule should be one responsible pharmacist,
one pharmacy, if the responsible pharmacist is to discharge his or her
responsibilities for the safe and effective running of the pharmacy”.
In a Parliamentary written reply he added: “For the vast majority
of pharmacies we expect each to have its own responsible pharmacist.
However, we also believe that there should be provision to consider any
exception to this rule, where circumstances justify such an exception.”
There is provision for a pharmacist to be responsible for more than one
pharmacy at any one time only in circumstances to be specified in the
new regulations and where there is compliance with certain conditions
to be set out in the regulations. The Department of Health intends to
consult all interested parties on what those circumstances and conditions
might be. |
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