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Letters to the Editor
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Fitness to practise
Non-referral to the Investigating Committee
From Mr J. A. Murphy, MRPharmS
The consultation on cases suitable for non-referral to the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society Investigating Committee has now closed and the process for analysing
responses will begin.
What many pharmacists may not realise is that the Society’s Fitness
to Practise Directorate can impose additional criteria over and above
those published
and endorsed by Council in order to direct a single dispensing error to the
Investigating Committee, regardless of the fact that the case fits the published
criteria for non-referral.
The Pharmacists’ Defence Association is aware of at least one case where,
because a family member had reported two supply errors in a short period (even
though the errors were unconnected and involved two different pharmacists),
it was decided that both pharmacists should be referred to the Investigating
Committee irrespective of the published criteria.
It is possible that appeasing the complainant was behind the decision to instigate
a formal referral to a Statutory Committee, but to its credit when challenged
by the PDA, the Society withdrew the case and dealt with it according to the
rules.
The PDA believes that the application of “hidden” criteria in such
circumstances is against the spirit of open and fair regulation and calls on
the Fitness to Practise Directorate to be transparent when formulating policy
as a result of the recent consultation exercise.
John Murphy
Pharmacists’ Defence Association
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Jackie Giltrow, Head of Regulatory Transition,
responds:
The Society cannot comment on the specific cases highlighted
by the Pharmacists’ Defence
Association. We can, however, reassure the PDA that we are always seeking
to improve our processes and to minimise any anomalies or inconsistencies,
and that we are committed to operating our regulatory activities in
an open and transparent manner.
At the Council meeting in March 2007 it was agreed that single, one-off
dispensing errors that are not likely to amount to professional misconduct
should not be
referred to the Investigating Committee and should be disposed of by means
of a letter. The criteria used to make decisions on cases for non-referral
to the
Investigating Committee are published on the Society’s website and are
explained in the minutes and papers of relevant Council meetings.
In December 2007, the Council agreed that the membership and other stakeholders
should be consulted on the handling of
one-off dispensing errors and other matters but, in the interim period, the
scope of dispensing errors should be widened to include errors made from the
receipt
of a prescription to supply of the dispensed medicine to a patient. That consultation
process ended on 18 April 2008 and generated a positive response, as a result
of which a number of changes to the threshold criteria have been proposed and
will be
considered by the Council at its meeting in June 2008.
We welcomed the opportunity to hear from a wide range of stakeholders on the
subject and further information on any changes made to the threshold criteria
will be made available once the Council has had the opportunity to consider
the proposals and determine the policy in this area. Following these policy
decisions,
the Fitness to Practise and Legal Affairs Directorate will ensure, as now,
that each case is assessed against the published criteria and considered for
non-referral
to the Investigating Committee where appropriate.
Any case not meeting the
threshold for referral will not be referred. There is not, and will not be,
any application
of “hidden” criteria as this would be contrary to the principle
of open and transparent regulation. We believe that the formal fitness-to-practise
procedures should be reserved for serious cases in which a registrant’s
fitness to practise is alleged to be impaired and we hope that proposals due
for consideration by Council support this principle. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal