GPhC receives six whistleblowing disclosures in one year
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) took action in five out of six whistleblowing disclosures it received over a 12-month period, it has said.
The GPhC received the six reports between April 1, 2017 and March 31, 2018 (see definition of whistleblowing below).
Three of the cases were investigated through the regulator’s fitness-to-practise process, but no further action was taken, the GPhC said in a joint report published yesterday (September 11) with seven other professional regulators.
Two of the disclosures were investigated by a GPhC inspector, ending with “guidance given to the employer by the inspector”, while one is “still under consideration”, it said.
The concerns raised by whistleblowers were “widely shared” with GPhC inspectors, it added.
“These issues inform our work on understanding the experiences of pharmacy professionals in the community pharmacy environment,” it continued.
The number of disclosures was revealed for the first time by the GPhC, after a legal requirement came into force in April 2017 requiring organisations in areas ranging from healthcare to the police to publish an annual report on the topic.
The number of disclosures reported by other healthcare regulators ranged from none received by the General Chiropractic Council, to 61 received by the General Dental Council.
C+D has requested further detail of the disclosures from the GPhC.
The government’s guidance on whistleblowing defines the following categories:
- A criminal offence (for example, types of financial impropriety such as fraud)
- a breach of a legal obligation
- a miscarriage of justice
- danger to the health or safety of any individual
- damage to the environment
- the deliberate covering up of wrongdoing in the above categories.
Source: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
View the GPhC’s guidance on raising concerns here
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