The clinical governance component of the community pharmacy contract requires every pharmacy to have a whistleblowing policy for its staff. If you have not seen your pharmacy’s whistleblowing policy ask your pharmacist or pharmacy manager to see a copy.

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society advises that a pharmacy whistleblowing policy should:

• Be readily accessible to all staff
• Comply with the good practice recommendations of the British Standards Institute’s code of practice on whistleblowing arrangements
• Include a commitment to zero tolerance of victimisation for anyone who raises a concern
• Remind pharmacists or technicians of their ethical and professional obligations to raise concerns
• Include options to raise concerns confidentially
• Include an escalation process for raising concerns outside of line management
• Ensure there is a culture that supports whistleblowing as a valuable governance mechanism
• Provide an explanation to distinguish a whistleblowing concern from a grievance
• Include the name of the Freedom to Speak-up Guardian (NHS England requirement - you can find out more about this by clicking here)

During a premises inspection by the GPhC, an inspector is likely to ask questions about the pharmacy’s whistleblowing policy. The inspector won’t expect you to know everything about the policy but they will expect you to be familiar with it and know where it is located.