The person affected by an incident is likely to have strong emotions when an incident has recently occurred. Therefore, responding appropriately when an incident does happen can be challenging. It’s important to use appropriate consultation skills and show empathy. There are several things that are vital after an incident occurs and it is important to ensure that, even when the incident doesn’t lead to serious harm, the following action is taken:

• Be open and honest: the GPhC Standards for pharmacy professionals require that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are open and honest at all times. Guidance to support the standards for pharmacy professionals and the joint statement on professional duty of candour can be found at: pharmacyregulation.org/guidance/guidance-support-standards-pharmacy-professionals
• Offer an apology: As per the NHS ‘Saying sorry’ guide, saying sorry is “always the right thing to do. It is not an admission of liability, it acknowledges that something could have gone better and is the first step to learning from what happened and preventing it recurring”
• Wherever possible, ensure the patient is included in the process that follows an incident: This includes the investigation itself and any learning that comes out of this.