Pharmacy Daily | Don’t be too social

PHARMACISTS in the UK are being warned against engaging with customers or patients on rapidly rising social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter. The UK National Pharmacy Association has issued a statement saying that the pharmacy team has a “duty to protect patient confidentiality,” with the alert following a similar warning to UK doctors by the British Medical Association (BMA). A newly released BMA social media guide for health professionals sets out a number of suggested guidelines including using strict privacy settings, and not posting “informal, personal or derogatory comments about patients or colleagues on public internet forums”. “Defamation law can apply to any comments posted on the web made in either a personal or professional capacity,” the Guideline states. The BMA also warned that some health workers had been investigated after communicating with patients online, and “some have even lost their jobs as a result”.

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