Who is to blame? Help!

[beth x]

I am a pharmacy student and I'm giving a presentation on 'can counter assistants give poor advice?' But I am unable to find any information on who is liable for the errors made by MCA's.
Is it the counter assistants responsibility if they've made a mistake, or the pharmacist working at the time?
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks x

[Pharmanaut]

I am a pharmacy student and I'm giving a presentation on 'can counter assistants give poor advice?' But I am unable to find any information on who is liable for the errors made by MCA's.
Is it the counter assistants responsibility if they've made a mistake, or the pharmacist working at the time?
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks x

My view ...

At the moment it is the pharmacist on duty,
who under the medicines act is deemed to be 'lawfully conducting a retail pharmacy'.
They are expected to supervise every sale regardless of legal classification of the medicine.
You could extend this to any advice given in the pharmacy, for example infant feeding.

It will change to be the 'responsible pharmacist'.

[DavidS]

Although the PDA will now seek to examine the role of the owner and pharmacy superintendant of the company in providing correct staffing levels and training, and pharmacy layout, which obviously a locum pharmacist (in particular) will have little control over.

Also, if an assistant gives advice over the phone, which often happens nowadays and isn't usually covered by sops, its very difficult for a pharmacist to intervene if the assistant doesn't know they are out of their depth and pass the patient on.

[Web Ferret]

Buck stops with pharmacist for pretty much everything.

If someone trips over the doormat then thats probably the pharmacists fault too.

Registered technicians would probably equally share any "blame" but this is fairly new at the moment.
I agree that phone advice isn't on many SOPs and is a very grey area.
Most doctors get funding to record all their telephone conversations.

[DavidS]

Most doctors get funding to record all their telephone conversations.

I do actually have the equipment to record all my conversations with customers, but don't think its necessary yet. Could I be wrong?

As far as the doormat goes, a long time ago, before health and safety were invented, we used to have a calor gas heater in the shop in winter, and people kept getting too close to it and melting their clothing despite warning signs, guards, etc. In the end I put up a large sign saying "Please try not to catch fire" which actually did the job, but someone complained and I had to take it down. Whereupon the smell of smouldering plastic mac once again filled the air.

[Web Ferret]

I do actually have the equipment to record all my conversations with customers, but don't think its necessary yet. Could I be wrong?

.

I think you are quite right. I know of a case where this facility would have been very useful.

[DavidS]

I think you are quite right. I know of a case where this facility would have been very useful.

Yes, but the rest of the time......
.... and what about confidentiality and ethics: would I have to make a declaration "Please note that all conversations with me will be recorded so that I can prove I said what I said I said." Can you imagine. And then I'd have to remember to plug my phone monitor into the mic socket.

But actually, I suppose you do get a feel for when it might be necessary, or at least advisable.

Oh, I don't know........ help!

[Jeff]

I am a pharmacy student and I'm giving a presentation on 'can counter assistants give poor advice?' But I am unable to find any information on who is liable for the errors made by MCA's.
Is it the counter assistants responsibility if they've made a mistake, or the pharmacist working at the time?
Any help would be much appreciated
Thanks x

There was a Which report recently that suggested that better advice came from pharmacists than from MCA's.

Responsibility for bad advice?
Well the recipient of the bad advice would probably go for the contractor in the first instance - because that is where the money is, then the pharmacist once they find out about professional liability insurance.

Legal responsibility? I'm not a lawyer - but I believe that a company is responsible for the actions of its employees.
Some multiples locum contracts try to divest that responsibility to the locum - see the PDA - if that interests you.

Jeff

[Tony Schofield]

Culpability is with the company/body corporate/owner. They offer the service and take responsibility for it.

However, as Jeff so correctly points out, lawyers smelling fees will try and pin the blame on anyone they can. IMHO there is no chance of a MCA being prosecuted or sued for giving incorrect advice. They would always claim inadequate training and just possibly jump on the gravy train suing the owner.

However, employee pharmacists are finding out that Company insurance isn't in place to protect employees. It is to protect the company and in defending the interests of the company the pharmacist employee may well end up in the cross hairs. Hence the need for their own indemnity insurance.

When I worked for Boots in the 1970's, (for 56 weeks) a staff member deliberately gave incorrect, dangerous advice to a customer. It was settled by the company and she was sacked. Today she could well have been prosecuted for her malicious actions. That is different to negligence.

I hope that helps.

[outsider]

Hi,
I’m not sure if I am qualified to answer this question. But I like to give it ago. I personally think:

1.The employer is ultimately responsible
2.The individual – as they should be aware of they’re job role/limitations
3.The line manager (senior tech), then pharmacist.
4.The training.

As a sato I’ve been put under extreme pressure to do things which I haven't been trained to do aswell things which aren’t in my job remit just to meet service needs.
I must stress I have never been put under pressure into giving advice to patients, as this is one responsibility I did not have.