The Council of the Pharmaceutical Society NI has today (15 January 2020) launched an 8-week public consultation on revised Threshold Criteria. The Registrar applies the Threshold Criteria when deciding on whether to refer fitness to practise allegations to the Scrutiny Committee or close an investigation.
Speaking about the consultation, Dr Jim Livingstone, President of Council stated:
“Our primary purpose is to protect the public and this means we must take all fitness to practise allegations and issues extremely seriously. We also, however, must be proportionate in our investigations and decision making.
“The Threshold Criteria is designed to provide a decision-making framework to assist the Registrar in the delivery of consistent, proportionate and reasonable decisions on whether to refer fitness to practise allegations to the Scrutiny Committee or close an investigation.
“The revised Threshold Criteria proposed, places a greater emphasis on the purpose of regulation and the three limbs of public protection, namely: protecting the public from harm; maintaining public confidence in the profession; and upholding professional standards. We consider the revised document also provides a better understanding of the Fitness to Practise investigation process and is hopefully more accessible to pharmacists and the public alike.
“We encourage our stakeholders to respond to this consultation and it should be of particular interest to patients, service users, pharmacists and their representatives, pharmacy representative bodies, defence organisations and the courts.
Notes
• This is an 8-week public consultation that closes at 12 noon on Wednesday 11 March 2020.
• The consultation document, draft Threshold Criteria and information on how to respond can be found on the consultations page of our website: www.psni.org.uk/publications/consultations/
• The Council of the Pharmaceutical Society NI will consider all the responses before deciding on whether to amend and publish the proposed Threshold Criteria.
• A consultation report will be placed on our website once the consultation has closed and the responses have been analysed and considered by Council.