SOPM-1012 – Medication Non Compliance
Today a communication was issued from the organisation which introduces a new SOP regarding ‘Medication Non Compliance’. St John were kind enough to let us know they intended to distribute this new policy a full 35 minutes before it was distributed, and again with apparent disregard for earlier feedback from employment representatives.
The new SOP outlines a ‘3 strikes’ approach to medication discrepancies, with any 3rd discrepancy in a rolling 12 month window to involve briefing notes, MMO/Operations Manager and Employee Relations for formal ‘disciplinary action’.
The template warnings for a ‘breach’ states that “each clinician has a legal responsibility in accordance with the Medicines and Poisons Act 2014, and Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016 to ensure medications are handled and protected in the correct manner”. During a Joint Consultative Committee meeting over 12 months ago, the AEAWA gave feedback in respect to this SOP. Your delegates highlighted that the Ambulance Daily Equipment & Medications Report (the Daily Check website) is NOT considered a Medication Register in accordance with Regulation 156 of the Poisons Regulations 2016. In light of this, we felt that initiating performance management and introducing a threat of ‘misconduct’ measures on the basis of an (alleged) violation of ‘legal responsibility in accordance with the Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016’ (for what may amount to nothing more than a ‘typo’ on an in house website) with no signature associated with it, is not only inaccurate citation of the law, but also unfair and harsh punitive action.
The Daily Check website is not the official register, and it records several medications which are also not subject to the stringent recording requirements outlined under the Poisons Regulations. The website is difficult to use on an iPad in particular, prone to typographic errors, has a proven track record of poor reliability, does not connect reliably to WIFI, and (we remind the organisation) officers are given NO paid time to complete this ‘website’.
We would like our members to be aware of our concerns regarding this policy and the failure to consider our feedback, and we have advised St John that we will strongly oppose any allegations of ‘misconduct’ that arise from the use of the ‘Daily Check website’ alone.