Thinking of reporting a concern? A guide for employers and locum agencies

23 February 2017

If you employ pharmacy professionals or provide a locum agency service, our new guidance can help you to decide if you need to refer a concern about a pharmacy professional to us.

Thinking of reporting a concern to us? A guide for employers and locum agencies explains how to raise a concern with us, the kind of issues we need to investigate and the information we will need to gather, and how we make decisions about a pharmacy professional’s fitness to practise.

Concerns about pharmacy professionals are often best resolved at a local level and do not need to be referred to the GPhC.  You should however contact us if you have concerns that a pharmacy professional’s conduct, attitude or behaviour present a risk to patients or the public, or are likely to seriously undermine public confidence in their profession. The guide includes scenarios drawn from concerns we have received, to help illustrate when to consider raising a concern or not.

Claire Bryce Smith, GPhC Director of Inspection and Fitness to Practise, explains: “The aim of fitness to practise is to manage risk, maintain patient safety and uphold public confidence in pharmacy professionals. It is not to punish pharmacy professionals or to replace or duplicate organisational procedures. We hope that the new guidance helps to clarify the kinds of issues we need to know about, and how we deal with fitness to practise issues to help make sure patients receive safe and effective care.”

Case study one

Mr H, a pharmacist, was diagnosed with depression and anxiety by his GP. He was signed off work for three months. Three weeks before Mr H was due to return to work, Mr H’s line manager, Ms G, arranged a meeting with Mr H. He brought a letter from his GP which said that he was taking medication to manage his condition and was about to begin a course of cognitive behavioural therapy. The GP also said that he felt that Mr H could benefit from a phased return to work, but that he was otherwise fit to return to his duties as a pharmacist.

In the meeting, Mr H said that he felt far better and was keen to get back to work. Ms G agreed that Mr H should come back to work part time to begin with and work up to a full working week over the next two months. She also appointed a workplace mentor who would have regular meetings with Mr H during his phased return to make sure that he was ready. The mentor would monitor his work over the first few weeks.

Ms G felt that the matter was resolved and decided not to tell the GPhC.

Was Ms G right not to tell us about Mr H’s health issue? See page 23 of the guidance to find out…

Case study two

Miss L was off sick from work. In a call to her manager to explain why, she said that she couldn’t work with the pharmacist, Mr S, anymore.

At first she didn’t want to explain what she meant, but eventually she said that Mr S had been sending her flirty text messages for several weeks and trying to get her to go out with him. A few days ago he tried to kiss her. On her last shift, he called her into the consultation room, pushed her up against the wall and tried to grope her. She ran off in tears but felt too ashamed to tell anyone. Miss L said that a few of the other women who worked there have had the same thing happen to them but were too scared to say anything in case they lost their jobs.

What should Miss L’s manager do? See page 26 of the guidance to find out…

Related articles

23 October 2023
While the rise in prescribing of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in recent years has had a positive impact, the risks of inappropriate provision of treatment need to be minimised to ensure everyone...
23 October 2023
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive and Registrar of the General Medical Council, introduces the new standards for doctors which focus on building successful teams and positive, open cultures across...
23 October 2023
In this snapshot article, we look at insights around the protected characteristics of age, disability, gender reassignment and sex to help encourage learning and discussions in pharmacy teams Under...
23 October 2023
Find out what you need to do to meet new requirements Following a consultation, the Government has put in place amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations 2012 (HMRs) to: require manufacturer’s...
23 October 2023
See our resources for help to meet your professional responsibilities The duty of candour – the responsibility to be open and honest with patients when something goes wrong – continues to be one of...