Dispensing error defence signed by Queen and now expected next month
The long-awaited defence for pharmacists from criminal prosecution for an inadvertent dispensing error is now expected to become law next month, C+D has learned.
In documents published last week (March 6), the government programme board set up to “rebalance” medicines legislation revealed that the defence for pharmacists and their staff who commit an inadvertent error was “signed by the Queen on February 8”.
“The four UK [government] health departments are developing a ‘commencement order’, with the aim to bring the new defences into effect in April,” the board confirmed.
The national governments are also continuing to look into extending the proposals “to cover pharmacy professionals working in hospitals and other pharmacy services”, it added.
Board chair Ken Jarrold said he was “pleased to report that great strides have been made in implementing the [dispensing error defence] proposals”.
“This important development aligns pharmacy professionals with other health professions, and will support increased reporting and learning from errors,” he added.
The legal defence from criminal sanctions for pharmacists and staff was one of health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt’s “ground-breaking” new measures to reduce harm caused by medication errors, announced at a patient safety summit last month.
This “will ensure the NHS learns from mistakes and builds a culture of openness and transparency”, the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) said at the time of Mr Hunt's announcement.
How does the government plan to change the law on dispensing errors?
A pharmacy professional or unregistered member of staff will have a defence against a criminal sanction for an inadvertent dispensing error if they meet a set of conditions. These include showing they had acted "in the course of [their] profession", that they had sold or supplied a medicine on the back of a prescription or patient group directive, and had "promptly" informed the patient about the error once discovered.
Criminal sanctions should only apply if there is proof "beyond reasonable doubt" that the pharmacist either misused their professional skills "for an improper purpose", or showed "a deliberate disregard for patient safety". The Department of Health stressed in 2015 that under this change to the law, failing to follow the pharmacy's procedures would not constitute grounds for criminal proceedings on its own.
How do you think the defence will impact the sector?