Community pharmacy plans must be reconsidered in light of Ridge’s inaccurate claims

Reports that the chief pharmaceutical officer in England made inaccurate claims to the All-Party Pharmacy Group regarding dispensing error rates and hub-and-spoke dispensing is deeply worrying. The General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC) ‘Standards of conduct, ethics and performance’ states that registrants should “be accurate and impartial when you teach and when you provide or publish information. Do not mislead or make claims that you have no evidence for or cannot justify”.

Not only should the GPhC consider whether the chief pharmaceutical officer’s behaviour warrants investigation, but the principles behind the government’s proposals for community pharmacy should be carefully reconsidered. If the chief pharmaceutical officer is capable of making mistakes on dispensing error statistics, then what other mistakes and false assumptions has he made in advising the government on community pharmacy policy?

Mark Burdon

Community pharmacy contractor

Chester-le-Street

County Durham