VIOLENCE
VIOlENCE IN PhARmACy
ThE lAUNCh Of ThE ‘zERO TOlERANCE’ CAmPAIgN hAS SEEN mEmBERS Of ThE PhARmACy PROfESSION COmE TOgEThER TO DISCUSS ThE wAy fORwARD…
T
he level of violence and abuse being faced by pharmacists is on the increase. In response,
the pharmacy profession, in conjunction with the health and Social Care Board (hSCB) and Department of health, organised a meeting to launch the zero Tolerance campaign, which is designed to stop abuse of health staff in primary care settings.
‘Abuse towards any member of staff should never be tolerated,’ said joe Brogan, head of Pharmacy at hSCB, ‘and we want to raise awareness of the abuse that is directed towards our staff, particularly those in primary care settings such as community pharmacies, gP practices, dental clinics and opticians.
‘In the last six months, we have seen a number of attempted thefts, some of which have involved violence or threats of violence to community pharmacists. we want to be clear that
At the launch of the Zero Tolerance campaign (l-r): Mark Timoney, Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, Department of Health; Colin Adair, NI Centre for Pharmacy Learning and Development and Joe Brogan (HSCB).
abusive and violent behaviour towards front line health care staff is unacceptable and those who persist will be reported to the authorities.’
The zero Tolerance campaign does not just apply to violent thefts in community pharmacy. Primary healthcare staff have increasingly highlighted a trend in verbally abusive individuals who display threatening behaviour against pharmacy, gP, dental and optometry staff: a point that was highlighted by Dr Sloan harper, Director of Integrated Care at hSCB.
‘Primary healthcare responds to 90 per cent of all health service contacts,’ Dr harper said. ‘It is important that primary healthcare teams are supported and recognised for the valuable work they do. we know that a tiny number of people being seen through primary healthcare services are verbally abusive and threatening to the staff
SANDRA COOKE Whitehouse Pharmacy, Belfast ‘In light of the recent violent attacks on local pharmacists, the launch of this zero tolerance approach across the primary care setting is to be welcomed and hopefully we now have the necessary support to implement it. I found it very positive listening to Dr mark Timoney speak at the meeting, as it was a significant step forward that the Department of health are looking to amend the pharmacy regulations so that pharmacy staff can better protect themselves against abuse.’
6 - PhARmACy IN fOCUS
who are simply trying to do their best for patients. with this campaign we wish to highlight the need to protect our staff working in primary care settings and that they have been advised to take a zero tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviour.’
As part of the zero Tolerance campaign, a review of security has been undertaken in all community pharmacies in Northern Ireland and steps have been taken to enhance security. As a follow-up to the review, a workshop has now been organised for community pharmacy staff. In addition, the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) have tailored and will deliver their Business Crime SafeShop programme to pharmacies across Northern Ireland.
‘we have been working with staff in community pharmacies to promote safety in their workplace and educate them about protecting themselves,’ said Chris Sloan, PSNI head of Crime Prevention. ‘The SafeShop presentations include useful information about how staff can stay safe during incidents, the importance of recording and reporting instances of verbal and physical attacks, updating security measures and the importance of carrying our regular audits. Everyone deserves to be safe
DR KATE MCCLELLAND Maghaberry Pharmacy, Maghaberry ‘The meeting provided a good opportunity to share information and ideas with colleagues. The message I took back to my team was from the PSNI - that good customer service is the best deterrent, greeting everyone who comes into the pharmacy so that they know that you know they are there.
‘In addition to that, and as with most pharmacies, we have installed most of the regular security gadgets in the pharmacy. A colleague once told me years ago that each time you have a burglary, you need to act to prevent the same thing happening in the future, and so that’s what we’ve always done.
‘Am I complacent with regard to security in our pharmacy? No, not at all. All that I can really do, however, is to keep security under review as incidents happen to others or to ourselves.’
in their place of work and we are asking for the support of the whole community in showing zero tolerance to abuse of health staff.”
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
