When the Pharmacy Council of New Zealand receives a complaint or notification about you, it decides which route under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the HPCA Act) the concern belongs on: competence, health or conduct. It writes to you with the concern, asks for your written response by a date, and then decides whether to close the matter, order a competence review, refer it to its health process or appoint a Professional Conduct Committee. While a matter is open it can suspend your practising certificate or place conditions on it. Call your indemnity insurer the same day, secure the dispensing records and the controlled drug register as they stand, do not contact the complainant, and reply before the date with a response written against the record and the Code of Ethics 2018.
Where a complaint or notification comes from
A concern about a pharmacist can come from a patient or their whānau, a prescriber, a pharmacy colleague, the pharmacy owner or manager, a hospital, an auditor, the police or another agency. Two routes are mandatory under the HPCA Act. An employer must notify the Council when a pharmacist resigns or is dismissed for reasons relating to competence (section 34), and a practitioner or employer who believes a pharmacist may be unable to practise safely because of a mental or physical condition must notify the Registrar (section 45). The guide to a mandatory employer notification covers how the employment and Council processes run side by side. A complaint to the Health and Disability Commissioner reaches the Council when the Commissioner refers it.
The Council regulates you as a registered pharmacist. The licence for the pharmacy premises is a separate matter under the Medicines Act 1981, so a pharmacist who owns or manages a pharmacy can face questions about the same events from two directions, and the answers have to match. Write the concern in the Council's letter out in one sentence of your own; that is the sentence your response has to answer.
The three routes
Competence. If the concern is that your practice may not meet the required standard, the Council can order a competence review under section 36 of the HPCA Act. Reviewers look at your dispensing, checking process, records and clinical reasoning, and report to the Council. The guide to what happens in a competence review covers the review in detail.
Health. If the concern is that a mental or physical condition may affect your ability to practise, the Council's health process applies. The Council can require an examination, accept voluntary undertakings and set conditions. The guide to the health process under the HPCA Act explains it.
Conduct. If the concern is about behaviour, the Council can appoint a Professional Conduct Committee under Part 4 of the Act. The Committee investigates, hears from you, and recommends an outcome to the Council or lays a charge before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The guide to how a Professional Conduct Committee process runs sets out each stage.
What the Council measures you against
The Council assesses conduct against its Code of Ethics 2018 and competence against its competence standards for the pharmacy profession, read with the statements and protocols it publishes. The Code sets out principles with standards beneath each, on matters that include putting the health and wellbeing of the patient first, respecting the patient's autonomy and privacy, acting with honesty and integrity, keeping your competence current, working with colleagues and other health practitioners, and conduct that keeps public trust in the profession. The Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights applies alongside it. The Council reads an allegation against the part of the Code it engages, so find that part before you write.
The concerns a pharmacist can face
- A dispensing error. The wrong medicine, strength, quantity or label, or an interaction that was not picked up. The Council looks at your checking process, the incident report, whether and when the patient was told what happened, and what has changed in the dispensary since.
- Controlled drug records. Register entries that are late, incomplete or do not reconcile with stock. An unexplained discrepancy can turn a records question into an honesty question, and the guide to an honesty or probity concern explains why the Council treats that as serious. The guide to a clinical records concern covers how records are read.
- A supply decision. An emergency supply, a supply without a valid prescription, a pharmacist-only medicine sold without the questions the situation called for, or a supply to yourself, a relative or a colleague. The guide to a prescribing concern covers how supply and prescribing decisions are assessed.
- Commercial pressure. Targets, staffing, workload or a direction from an owner that shaped a decision the Code says must be made for the patient. The pressure explains the circumstances; it does not answer the concern.
- Privacy and boundaries. A patient's medicines discussed where others can hear, a record opened without a care reason, or a boundary with a patient or a colleague, including dual relationships with a patient you know outside the pharmacy. The guides to a confidentiality or privacy concern and to a professional boundaries concern cover both.
What happens, step by step
- The letter arrives. The Council sends you the concern, the material and a date. Call your indemnity insurer that day and ask the pharmacy in writing for the dispensing records, the register and the incident report.
- You respond in writing. Facts from the record with references, your reasoning at the time, what fell short, what you have done since with evidence, and what you have understood, in the terms of the Code. The guide to how to write a response to a Council notification gives the structure.
- The Council decides the route. On your response, the records and any further enquiries, it decides whether to close the matter, write to you with advice, order a competence review, refer the matter to its health process or appoint a Professional Conduct Committee.
- The review or investigation runs. Reviewers report to the Council on competence. A Professional Conduct Committee gathers documents, can interview you and witnesses, and puts its concerns to you before it decides.
- You are heard before any order. Before the Council sets a programme, imposes conditions or makes an interim order, it tells you what it proposes and gives you the chance to respond.
- The outcome is recorded. The Council tells you its decision, what it has told your employer and what appears on the register. A charge laid by a Committee goes to the Tribunal.
Interim suspension and conditions
While a Professional Conduct Committee investigation is open, section 69 of the HPCA Act lets the Council suspend your practising certificate or place conditions on it if it is satisfied that is needed to protect the public. You are entitled to be heard first. A pharmacist who has arranged a second check on every item, stepped back from controlled drug handling while the matter is open, and set that out in writing gives the Council a reason to prefer conditions to suspension. The guide to interim suspension and conditions on practice covers the risk test.
What you can do now
- Get advice the same day. Your indemnity insurer, the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand if you are a member, or a lawyer, before you put anything in writing to the Council or your employer.
- Secure the records as they stand. Dispensing records, the controlled drug register, stock reconciliations, the prescription, the incident report, rosters and messages. Ask for them in writing.
- Write against the record and the Code. Facts with references, reasoning at the time, what fell short, what you have done since, what you have understood.
- Start remediation before you reply. A revised checking procedure, an audit of the register with results, supervision, and courses completed with dated certificates. Completed steps are evidence; intended steps are promises.
The outcomes
After a competence review it can find the standard is met, set a competence programme or place conditions on your practising certificate, such as practice under supervision. On the health route it can accept undertakings or set conditions. A Professional Conduct Committee can recommend no further action, counselling, a competence review or conditions, or lay a charge before the Tribunal. The Tribunal can cancel or suspend registration (suspension for up to three years), impose conditions, censure, fine and award costs. The guide to a Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal hearing describes what it weighs.
Where remediation fits
The part of a Council matter you control is what you have done since the concern was raised. Courses completed before your response goes, with dated certificates attached, are evidence that you have engaged with the Code. Ethics for Pharmacists and Professionalism for Pharmacists are written against the Pharmacy Council's Code of Ethics 2018, so a certificate from either answers a concern framed in the Council's terms. Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation covers how to engage with the process, and Remediation for Fitness to Practise covers the plan the Council reads when it decides whether conditions are needed.
Each course is NZ$200, takes 2 CPD hours, is self-paced with immediate access, and ends with a dated certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses that you can submit to the Council or put in your remediation plan. The remediation courses for pharmacists facing a Pharmacy Council investigation are listed on one page, and the Council and Board investigation process explained shows where each course sits. The guide to showing insight and building a remediation plan explains how to present the certificates with the rest of your evidence, and the guide to what happens after a notification to any Council or Board gives the whole HPCA Act process.
Sources and further reading
- Pharmacy Council of New Zealand: the Code of Ethics 2018, the competence standards for the pharmacy profession, and the Council's pages on concerns, competence and health.
- Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003: sections 34, 36, 45 and 69 and Part 4 on Professional Conduct Committees and the Tribunal.
- Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal: published decisions involving pharmacists, with the penalties imposed and the weight given to insight and remediation.
- Health and Disability Commissioner: how a complaint about a pharmacist is assessed and how it reaches the Council.
Frequently asked questions
I made a dispensing error. What will the Pharmacy Council look at?
The Council's question is whether the public is safe now, not only whether an error happened. It looks at what was dispensed, why your checking process did not stop it, whether and when the patient was told, what the incident report says, and what has changed in the dispensary since. A response that shows a revised checking procedure in use, an audit with results and courses completed with dated certificates gives the Council evidence it can rely on. Speak to your indemnity insurer before you reply.
What should I do if the controlled drug register does not balance?
Leave the register as it stands and do not make the figures agree. Tell your indemnity insurer or a lawyer what you know, then set out in your response the discrepancy, the checks you have made, what you can and cannot explain, and the reconciliation process now in place. An unexplained balance is a records concern; a corrected entry that is not marked as late can become an honesty concern, which the Council treats as more serious.
Can my employer or the pharmacy owner report me to the Pharmacy Council?
Yes. Anyone can raise a concern, and under section 34 of the HPCA Act an employer must notify the Council when a pharmacist resigns or is dismissed for reasons relating to competence, stating the reasons. The Council sends you a copy and asks for your response. Ask the Council in writing for every document it holds. An employment process and a Council process run separately, so take advice before you write to either.
What does the Pharmacy Council expect in my written response?
An account of the facts from the dispensing records and the register with references, your reasoning at the time, a plain acknowledgement of anything that fell short, what you have done since with evidence, and what you have understood, written in the terms of the Code of Ethics 2018. Keep a level tone, make no comment about the complainant, and send nothing your adviser has not read. Where your account and the record differ, the Council will rely on the record.
Who should I contact first after a letter from the Pharmacy Council?
Your indemnity insurer, the day the letter arrives. If you are a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand, its advisers can also help, and either can tell you whether a lawyer should be instructed. Do this before you write anything to the Council or your employer. Where the concern alleges dishonesty, a supply to yourself or a relative, or conduct that could reach a Professional Conduct Committee, ask about a lawyer in the first call.