The government must first decriminalise dispensing errors if it wants an open culture within the NHS, pharmacy leaders have said.

Pharmacists would struggle to be more open in admitting mistakes because they know they could face prosecution for a dispensing error, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) and Pharmacy Voice said as the government reiterated its proposals to impose a specific duty of candour as part of changes to the NHS constitution.

Pharmacists would be "compromised" from complying with a duty of candour as long as dispensing errors remained a criminal offence, said Pharmacy Voice	More on decriminalisation Let's take decriminalisation out of the long grass Mid Staffs fallout could harm decriminalisation hopes Pharmacy hits out at slow progress
	The majority of more than 350 respondents to the Department of Health's (DH's) 12-week consultation on the NHS constitution, which ran until January this year, had supported proposals for a duty of candour, the DH said in a report published on Friday (February 15). Some respondents suggested it could increase people's trust in the health service and maximise patient safety,

But responding to the consultation, Pharmacy Voice said pharmacists would be "compromised" from complying with a duty of candour as long as dispensing errors remained a criminal offence.

"If we really want to encourage an open learning culture, then the possibility of criminal sanction of pharmacists for honest errors needs to be removed," it said.

And Shilpa Gohil, chair of the RPS English Pharmacy Board, urged the DH to "accelerate the work to decriminalise dispensing errors".

"This would remove a significant barrier to the implementation of candour amongst the pharmacy profession," she said.

The DH consultation on the constitution ran from November 2012 to January 2013. The government said it would publish an updated version of the NHS constitution by April 2013, when it would provide more details about how patients should be treated if a mistake has been made, including receiving an appropriate explanation and apology and an assurance that lessons have been learned.

A similar recommendation for candour was made in the Francis report into the failings of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

This could mean pharmacists who failed to report dispensing errors made by colleagues could also face prosecution, partner at law firm Shakespeares Gary Davie told C+D last week.

Earlier this month, pharmacists criticised the government's efforts to decriminalise dispensing errors for taking too long, after England's chief pharmaceutical officer Keith Ridge admitted it could take another three years to find and implement a solution.

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