General Pharmaceutical Council ethics consultation

You may have heard of the recent cases where pharmacists have refused to dispense drugs because the drugs are contrary to their religious belief. The General Pharmaceutical Council, which is replacing the existing Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, is consulting on its code of ethics.

The proposed code of ethics enshrines such discrimination as official ethical policy.

We objected to the relevant clauses in the proposed code as a group, and some of our members wrote individual letters. We will have to wait to see if the GPC continues to put the beliefs of its members above the welfare of patients.