AUTH/2708/4/14 - NHS employee v ProStrakan

Osteoporosis review

  • Received
    09 April 2014
  • Case number
    AUTH/2708/4/14
  • Applicable Code year
    2012
  • Completed
    24 June 2014
  • No breach Clause(s)
    2, 9.1, 15.2, 15.3, 18.1 and 18.4
  • Additional sanctions
  • Appeal
    No appeal
  • Review
    August 2014

Case Summary

An NHS employee complained that local practices had been misled to believe an osteoporosis therapy review service conducted by a third party service provider on behalf of ProStrakan was approved by the local clinical commissioning group (CCG) and was a continuation of the work done in 2009 when the CCG was a primary care trust (PCT). The complainant noted that the review appeared to be completely different to that done in 2009; the current review identified patients who had not ordered their calcium and vitamin D recently and switched them to non-formulary Adcal-D3 caplets.

The complainant remembered that ProStrakan had offered her another review via email but she had said no and it and had gone ahead despite the complainant not replying to another letter from ProStrakan offering such support.

The complainant noted that the protocol provided by one practice contained numerous inaccuracies and would never have been supported by the CCG. The complainant was further concerned that a company had deceptively gained entry to practices and access to patient records. The complainant saw this as a serious information governance breach bordering on fraud.

The detailed response from ProStrakan is given below.

The Panel noted the parties' accounts differed with regard to whether ProStrakan had misled practices into believing that the therapy review had been approved by the local CCG. The complainant had not been party to any of the conversations between ProStrakan, the third party service provider and the individual practices. The Panel noted the difficulty in dealing with complaints based on one party's word against the other; it was often impossible in such circumstances to determine precisely what had happened. A complainant had the burden of proving their complaint on the balance of probabilities. The Panel noted, however, that a high degree of dissatisfaction was usually required before an individual was moved to submit a formal complaint.

The Panel noted that the complainant could not locate the email wherein she had declined ProStrakan's offer of a therapy review service and ProStrakan was unable to locate any such email or any other evidence that it had been informed that the CCG had adopted any position on the matter.

The Panel noted ProStrakan's submission that therapy reviews had only taken place after a detailed discussion with the practice concerned and with the written consent of two employees appropriately authorised to sign on the practice's behalf. The Panel noted ProStrakan's submission that localguidelines were often unavailable to those outside of a CCG and it therefore relied upon the individual practices to ensure that participation in the service was appropriate and acceptable. The Panel considered that conducting therapy review services at individual practices despite the CCG not having made a decision regarding a proposal or not wishing to undertake a project, was not in itself prohibited by the Code provided that the way in which it was done complied with all relevant requirements of the Code. If however, a CCG or similar had clearly not sanctioned such a service then it would not be unreasonable to expect a pharmaceutical company to make that clear when discussing the matter with relevant practices. The Panel noted ProStrakan's submission that none of its employees covering the territory or their line managers had been told that the CCG(s) had taken either a positive or negative position on the matter.

The Panel noted that two separate practices had informed the complainant that they had been led to believe that the CCG approved the service offered by ProStrakan. This was denied by ProStrakan. The Panel considered that to have two practices with the same misunderstanding was concerning however as a similar service had been locally approved in 2009 it was possible that the practices might have thought this service was a continuation of the previous service. Overall, the Panel did not consider that on the balance of probabilities the complainant had proved that either Prostrakan or the third party service provider had employed any subterfuge to gain access to individual practices by suggesting that the therapy review service now on offer was supported by the local CCG. The Panel thus ruled no breach of the Code.

The Panel did not consider that the representatives had failed to maintain a high standard of ethical conduct and ruled no breach of the Code. The Panel considered that the complaint was about misleading practices about the CCG's views about the service and not about the actual service provided to one of the practices. If the complainant was concerned about the actual service then a further complaint could be made.

The Panel noted its rulings above and did not consider that ProStrakan or the third party service provider working on its behalf had failed to maintain high standards. No breach of the Code was ruled including no breach of Clause 2.​