Raising Concerns

If a chaperone feels that something inappropriate occurred during a consultation, they have a responsibility to report their concerns, which may include:

• Advising the pharmacist that their actions or comments during a consultation could have been misinterpreted by a patient, e.g. use of over familiar language
• Highlighting that the chaperone policy has not been implemented or followed correctly, e.g. a chaperone wasn’t offered to a patient or the refusal of a chaperone by the patient was not recorded
• Reporting if a patient’s wishes were not honoured
• Inappropriate physical or sexual behaviour taking place during a consultation

The severity of the incident will determine how and who you raise a concern with. For example, the first scenario above should only require a discussion with the pharmacist to highlight your concerns. However, if you feel the pharmacist doesn’t listen to you or give the concerns an appropriate level of consideration, you may wish to escalate the matter further. For information on how to handle this or to raise more serious concerns or breaches, refer to the Counter Excellence Whistle blowing policy