The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7488 p144
9 February 2008

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DDA opposed to responsible pharmacist regulations

Details of how the concept of the responsible pharmacist will work should be laid out in professional guidance rather than in regulations, according to the Dispensing Doctors’ Association. This, it says, would cut down on bureaucracy that it fears would stop the professionals involved from acting in the best interests of patients.

The DDA also says that no maximum time for which the responsible pharmacist can be absent should be specified in the regulations, saying that it should be sufficient for suitable operating procedures to be in place. There is no reason why this should not apply when there are only pharmacy technicians, or in some circumstances, assistants on site, it adds.

In response to these comments, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society said that the DDA is vastly underestimating the importance of the pharmacist’s role in ensuring patient safety and that a system that misses out a separate professional check is inherently less safe.