Case study

This case study will help you explore how you might raise concerns once a safeguarding issue has been identified. It covers who you would raise these issues with, and what process to follow.

Orchid View nursing home, run by the now-defunct Southern Cross, hit the headlines when a coroner’s inquest into the deaths of five of its elderly residents revealed the deaths had been a result of neglect, stemming from ‘institutionalised abuse’.

A serious case review had found that a community pharmacist who visited the home in October 2011 was physically sick after leaving. She did raise her concerns with a senior nurse staff who seemed ‘blasé’, but did not report them elsewhere because she knew the CQC had rated the home as ‘failing’, so believed they would already be aware of the problem.

Considering the GPhC’s professional standards, how appropriate do you think the pharmacist’s actions were in this case?

Standard 8 of the GPhC’s Standards for pharmacy professionals says: Pharmacy professionals must speak up when they have concerns or when things go wrong.²

If you raise a concern with the relevant authority but do not receive a satisfactory answer or action, then you have a responsibility to escalate the concern appropriately.²

Some suggestions of barriers to raising concerns include worrying…

• about causing trouble for colleagues
• that it could have a negative impact on your career
• that it might lead to difficult working relationships
• that nothing will be actioned in response to your concerns
• that you could face reprisals.

The GPhC provides guidance on raising concerns.³ This will look different in each organisation, so it is important you understand the procedures of your workplace.