PH1 - How secure is your pharmacy?

A surprising and somewhat alarming fact is that many acts of dishonesty in pharmacies are committed by staff, not customers.

It is usually not as obvious as catching an employee with their hand in the till. You might, for example, notice that high value items are missing and unaccounted for in the staff purchase book.

You should make sure that you have some guidelines or procedures in place for people to work to. Written company rules should be issued and signed by employees, once they’ve read and agreed with them. This will ensure that everyone is aware of the rules and also will have a sound basis for taking disciplinary action against any employee who fails to follow them. It will be far more difficult to discipline an employee if they can argue that they didn’t know what was expected or that they had misunderstood something that had been said to them.

Stolen Property

If you suspect that an employee has stolen property in their possession, you should ask for their permission to carry out a search.

Tell the employee why you want to conduct the search and allow them to have a colleague present if they wish. Always confine any search to the outer layers of clothing and bags.

If the employee refuses your request and you have evidence of a breach of your company rules you can take disciplinary action.

Alternatively, if you strongly suspect that the employee is concealing stolen property, you should insist that they remain on the premises and call the police.

Disciplinary Action

When you have evidence of wrong-doing, the next step is to hold a formal disciplinary meeting with the employee, following your company’s own disciplinary procedures or those outlined in the Advisory Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) Code of Practice on Disciplinary Procedures.

Write to the employee to invite them to a disciplinary hearing, outline the nature of the complaint against them and offer the right of representation by a colleague or trade union representative.

Where there is a minor infringement of the rules, disciplinary action should generally follow the stages of a disciplinary hearing followed progressively by; an oral warning, written warning, final written warning and ultimately dismissal.

We take great pride in our service, and would be delighted to invite you for a free 1 hour, no obligation meeting at our comfortable offices. Simply call us  on 020 8346 0391 to arrange a mutually convenient time.

This web-site was last updated on 13/06/2008

Copyright © 2003-2008 Mac Kotecha & Company. All rights Reserved. The information on this site is for general guidance only. It is essential to take professional advice on specific issues about their impact on any individual or entity. No liability can be accepted for any errors or omission or for any person acting or refraining from acting on the information provided on this site.