DH to pharmacists: Identify overlooked decriminalisation issues
Pharmacists must respond to a consultation on the decriminalisation of dispensing errors to highlight any potential problems the government may have missed, says Ken Jarrold, chair of the board overseeing the initiative
EXCLUSIVE
The Department of Health has urged pharmacists to respond to its consultation on the decriminalisation of dispensing errors to ensure the changes do not have any unintended consequences.
The consultation on changes to medicines law, which launched last week, was an opportunity for “front-line” pharmacists to raise any issues that the government had not considered, said Ken Jarrold, chair of the programme board overseeing the consultation.
“Despite the fact that we’ve had [discussions] with an expert group representing all sectors of the profession, there may be something we haven’t thought about,” Mr Jarrold told C+D in an exclusive interview on Tuesday (February 24).
As well as providing a legal defence from prosecution for pharmacists who made a dispensing error while acting professionally, the consultation also includes plans for standards for registered pharmacies to become the sole responsibility of the owner, and to allow the General Pharmaceutical Council to publish its premises inspections reports.
In the “unlikely event” that pharmacists highlighted “a lot of issues” about these changes that had not occurred to the programme board, this could delay the law being changed, Mr Jarrold said.
“The early indications are there is a good deal of support for these proposals, but we’re not taking anything for granted,” he said.
It was important for pharmacists to respond to the consultation “even if they don't see any problems and just support the proposals”, as the board wanted the legislation "to be something that is welcomed by the profession”, Mr Jarrold stressed.
Pharmacists have until May 14 to respond to the consultation online. Details of a series of consultation events the DH is hosting next month can be found on its consultation web page.
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