Dispensing errors could be decriminalised by the end of 2014 if legislation put forward by the programme board set up to review medicines law goes ahead, according to the board's chair Ken Jarrold.

Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords need to pass secondary legislation allowing for decriminalisation, but Mr Jarrold said that there was clear political support for decriminalisation and the board would focus on the issue in greater detail at its next meeting in June.

The programme board was set up in January to find a way to "rebalance" medicines legislation and pharmacy regulation within three years, but it agreed to make dispensing errors a fast-track issue at its first meeting earlier this month.

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	Mr Jarrold stressed that there was still a "huge amount of detailed work" to be done before a draft order under section 60 of the Health Act was made available for consultation in the autumn.

England's chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge, who also sits on the board, said that decriminalising dispensing errors was not as straightforward as some pharmacists might think. He added that it required a complex balance between medicines legislation and professional regulation to ensure patient safety.

But Dr Ridge told C+D that it was great to see that the issue had been prioritised.

There are five programme board meetings scheduled up to January 2014, with the next to be held on June 3.

Under section 64 of the Medicines Act, it is a criminal offence for a pharmacist or technician to dispense the wrong product to a patient, even in error. Section 60 of the Health Act 1999 allows for the regulation of a health professional to be modified.