The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain’s President, Steve Churton is calling on all pharmacists to throw their weight behind the Society’s campaign to win a change in the law regarding dispensing errors.
Mr Churton said:
“This campaign has already come to the attention of Westminster but, to keep the momentum going, we need the whole profession to take up the challenge to change
the law.”
The Society has worked with the Chair of the All-Party Pharmacy Group, Howard Stoate MP, to table an Early Day Motion (EDM) to draw the attention of all MPs to the current legal situation.
To help influence the country’s lawmakers, the Society has created a standard letter, which can be used by members to write to their Member of Parliament in support of the law change.
Steve Churton commented:
“The more MPs who register their support of the EDM, the greater our chances are of bringing about a hugely positive change to the law, and to the profession.
“We need everyone’s support to make this campaign a success. I’m asking every pharmacist in Great Britain to use the standard letter to send to their MP. We need an overwhelming response from members to demonstrate to legislators that there really is no alternative but to amend the law.”
The EDM has been tabled two weeks before a debate on decriminalisation is due to be held at the next meeting of the All-Party Pharmacy Group. It says:
“That this House recognizes that community pharmacists are on the front line in providing vital services to NHS patients in a high-pressure environment; notes that under the 1968 Medicines Act pharmacists who make an error while dispensing medicines are regularly tried for a criminal offence; is concerned that this discourages healthcare professionals who fear being criminalized from reporting dispensing errors; is further concerned that this limits opportunities to record mistakes and to learn from these errors; notes that the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently undertaking a project to review medicines legislation; and calls upon the Government to work with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain to ensure that amended legislation offers a more proportionate response with the flexibility to recognise a genuine single dispensing error.”
Press release issues by RPSGB
2 June 2009