Health professionals (including retail pharmacists) have an ethical and professional obligation to safeguard patients during a recall.
As a health professional, you may delegate these tasks to a competent person, but you should remain vigilant.
On this page: Your response to a recall | When you are a supplier | Hazard alerts | Consumer-level recalls | Your recall procedure
Your response to a recall
If there is a recall of a therapeutic good:
- Stop supplying or prescribing the goods subject to the recall.
- Follow the instructions in the sponsor's customer letter.
- Contact the person named in the sponsor's customer letter if you have any queries about the recall.
When you are a supplier
As a health professional, you may have supplied the recalled therapeutic good to another organisation such as:
- a nursing home
- another pharmacy
- a doctor's surgery
- a laboratory.
Contact any organisation for which you have acted as a supplier and:
- advise them of the recall
AND
- give them a copy of the sponsor's customer letter.
Hazard alerts
Give individual patients advice in the context of their personal medical circumstances.
Attempt to contact patients as quickly as possible, particularly if you need to take action before their next routine check-up.
Advise patients about the recall, the reasons for it, and the actions patients should take, according to the recall letter and their individual circumstances (for example, if clinical signs indicate a need for medical follow-up).
Consumer-level recalls
Because of the associated health risks:
- Contact all consumers who have already received the recalled therapeutic good (if appropriate).
- Advise patients about the recall, the reasons for it, and the actions they should take, according to the recall letter and their individual circumstances (for example, if clinical signs indicate a need for medical follow-up).
- Replace the goods held by the patient (if necessary).
Your recall procedure
If you develop a written procedure for managing recall actions, we suggest you include:
- A list of the actions to take in a chronological order
- How to quarantine stock and manage stock that is in transit
- How to notify relevant staff (including inward goods personnel and clinicians)
- How to communicate with other organisations that have purchased or borrowed the goods
- How to access patient details for a consumer-level recall (if applicable)
- The process to notify patients
- A plan for managing patients implanted with an affected implantable medical device or biological.