2011 GPhC Fitness to practise audit report

2011 GPhC Fitness to practise audit report

General Pharmaceutical Council

In August 2011 we audited 100 cases that the GPhC had closed at the initial stages of its fitness to practise (FTP) processes during the previous six month period.
The audit revealed strengths as well as weaknesses in the GPhC’s handling of its casework.

We found examples of strengths in the GPhC’s case handling, such as:

• Prompt risk assessment of complaints
• GPhC staff taking a helpful approach to complainants whose complaints fell outside the GPhC’s jurisdiction.

We also found examples of weaknesses in the GPhC’s case handling such as:

• Significant delays in progressing cases through the initial stages of the fitness to practise process to a conclusion.
• Poor record keeping in some cases
• Failures in internal communication - which may have affected the timeliness and quality of case handling
• A lack of quality control systems when cases are closed (by one decision maker) at the ‘triage’ stage of the process. We found no evidence of actual inappropriate case closures during our audit,.
• Not routinely arranging health assessments in cases where registrants have been convicted of drink-driving offences. Other regulators have found that routine health assessments in these circumstances can help to identify registrants whose ill-health means that they may be a risk to public protection.

We recognise that changes that the GPhC is already implementing should address some of the weaknesses highlighted in our report. We recommend that the GPhC reviews all the areas of concern identified in our report, so that it can demonstrate improvement in its management of the initial stages of the fitness to practise process by the time of our next audit

You can access the full report here.