THIS week's contributor is Gary West, PDL's Professional Officer - Benefits of contacting PDL about incidents and near misses: Some errors or incidents may seem trivial, but PDL cannot stress enough the importance of contact at the time for advice and support. A Professional Officer will review the situation and determine if all steps have been taken to ensure the incident is not escalated.
As well as receiving advice on incident handling, reporting the issue to PDL is a condition of insurance and provides a record which can assist with legal representation, if necessary. A copy of the incident report is provided which may be required by employers or for QCPP documentation.
Even if a wrongly dispensed item does not leave the pharmacy, it should still be reported, as consumers can and sometimes do make a complaint to a pharmacy regulator. If a complaint is made and you have reported the matter to PDL, support is provided and legal advice is available, subject to the policy, to assist in replying to the complaint.
All incidents reported to PDL are collated and analysed for trends in common errors. From this analysis, PDL regularly sends practice alerts to its members alerting them to potential pitfalls. Past alerts are available in the PDL members section of the website.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 08 Jul 19
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 08 Jul 19