Is your pharmacy accessible to customers with disabilities?

Since 1 October 2004 the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has imposed obligations on service providers to make reasonable adjustments to their premises to overcome physical barriers to access. Community pharmacies, along with other retailers, are defined as service providers and are thus subject to the duties contained in the DDA.

Pharmacy proprietors should have ensured that their current premises are compliant with the DDA, but the duty is a continuing one so will apply to any planned changes or refurbishments.

What steps should be taken?

To ensure compliance with the DDA you should assess your premises or refurbishment plans. You may need to make alterations to make the premises accessible to people with disabilities. The DDA requires service providers to take reasonable steps to either remove or alter a physical feature that makes it impossible or unreasonably difficult for a disabled person to use the service offered.

If it is possible to provide a reasonable means of avoiding the feature, or a reasonable alternative method of making the service available to disabled people, that would satisfy the duty.

If movement around the pharmacy is difficult, a display could be rearranged or the furniture moved. If prescription forms need to be signed, a board could be provided for customers in wheelchairs to rest on their knees, rather than having to lower a counter.

If you haven’t already done so, consider having an access audit carried out by a qualified consultant from the National Register of Access Consultants. Your consultant will be used to spotting problems and thinking laterally to solve them in the most appropriate and cost-effective way.

When does the duty arise?

Any existing barriers to access must be dealt with now — waiting for a convenient opportunity to arise, such as a planned refurbishment, is not an option. It might be that there is a physical feature which does need substantial alteration or removal. However, it might also be possible to comply with the DDA by adapting the way in which the pharmacy service is provided to disabled members of the public.

Obvious problem features include steps up to the pharmacy. If there is no alternative access, these steps may have to be replaced with a ramp wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. It might be that the provision of a collapsible ramp would be considered to be an acceptable solution in the context of a small, independent pharmacy. On the other hand, a national chain might be expected to have the means to install a permanent ramp.

Many pharmacies now have consulting rooms within the premises. These should be accessible to disabled people, so if a space is being partitioned to create a consulting room, the access should be wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. If the consulting room is upstairs or in a basement, and the installation of a lift is not possible, consider making space available for occasional consultations on the ground floor in order to allow disabled customers to use the service.

If you need a landlord’s consent to carry out such work you must submit plans and specifications to your landlord who has 42 days to respond, failing which consent is generally deemed to have been withheld. Regulations specify conditions that it would be reasonable for the landlord to impose, such as obtaining planning permission, or the consent of any superior landlord.

Penalties

The DDA is effectively policed by disabled people. If a person considers that they have been discriminated against because of their disability, they can bring civil proceedings against you within six months of the alleged discrimination. Organisations, including the Disability Rights Commission, provide financial assistance and practical help and advice. The DRC also provides an independent conciliation service for disputes arising under the DDA.

There is no case law yet that we are aware of that relates specifically to community pharmacies. However, we would expect that, in the event of a successful claim, damages might be awarded, and in those circumstances they would probably be assessed based on the loss suffered by the disabled person as a result of the breach of the DDA.

It is worth noting that the DDA enables the court to make an award of damages by way of compensation for injury to feeling, but each case would be decided individually.

Further guidance

The DRC has produced guidance on the DDA for service providers, as well as for disabled people. This includes the “Code of Practice: services to the public, public authority functions, private clubs and premises”, which contains advice and practical examples of adjustments to premises (available at www.drc-gb.org).