Been told I am facing disciplinary action.

esj13

Hi,

I was recently involved in an investigation at work and there were allegations made against me that claimed "On the 20th September, you failed to report an error on the MAR for a controlled drug."

Said error was made on friday 18th. I worked a shift on Saturday, but did not deal with medication, only to sign as a witness for the administration of said controlled drug.
On sunday evening when I was working the 24 hr shift, I spotted that there had been a mistake made on friday for the booking in of a new weeks supply of medication. I passed this over to the deputy manager first thing monday morning. The investigation report also says that the deputy manager has backed up what I said in passing it on to her.
However, they are trying to say that because I did not report it on the handover that there was an error, I am at fault. They also say that the handover from saturday to sunday, which I signed, says "No issues" under the medication area. However, this was pretyped before I arrived on shift.

I feel as though I am being bullied as this is not the first time they have had me on a disciplinary. The other time was in April when I was new to the role and they failed to follow their own disciplinary procedures and broke my confidentiality by sending the information about me to another manager and also only allowing me 2 days notice to attend the hearing. When I raised these concerns they were dismissed with shoddy excuses and I was advised by family not to pursue my complaints by appeal etc. as this is when people start to get really harassed by management and forced out. So I let it be. And for a time it was going ok. And now this.

This time, however, I have told them I will let them know when I can attend a hearing, when I know when I will have a Union rep available.

Has anyone any advice?

martinsurrey

you started in April 2015?

start looking for a new job, under 2 years service, no need for them to give you a reason.

marlot

Sounds like a nightmare place to work.

Definitely involve the union. I've no idea on the importance of the MAR in the circumstances you refer, but it sounds like its a vital record?

Hope you get a fair outcome.

esj13

I have worked for the company for over 2 years. This is just a new role internally.

esj13

marlot wrote: »

Sounds like a nightmare place to work.

Definitely involve the union. I've no idea on the importance of the MAR in the circumstances you refer, but it sounds like its a vital record?

Hope you get a fair outcome.

A MAR is a Medication Administration Record.
The drug in question here was Methadone.
I wasn't in on the friday when it was booked in so I had no part in that. They're blaming me and another member of staff for not seeing the missed signatures on the friday. I have followed company procedure, however, which says to check the medication book at the end of your shift, which was when I spotted the error and reported it the following morning.

One member of staff has handed in his resignation over this investigation and the way people are treated. One of the guys who made the actual error has put in a sicknote for stress. And, unreleated, two other members of staff recently left.
Even one of the former area directors is taking the company for constructive dismissal. It is becoming a joke.

dseventy

esj13 wrote: »

Said error was made on friday 18th. I worked a shift on Saturday.......


On sunday evening when I was working the 24 hr shift, I spotted that there had been a mistake made on friday .......

..... They also say that the handover from saturday to sunday, which I signed, says "No issues" under the medication area.

.....

I dont get this.

When you did the handover (on saturday night?) you signed something that said there was "no issues".

You noticed something amiss (on Sunday?), did not mention it when your shift ended and waited until Monday to report it?

Is that right?

If so I can see why they are looking into the incident. You had ample opportunities to raise it before monday. The fact the form us pre-printed is not relevant. If its wrong, you line through it and write whats correct. NMC guidance on record keeping kicks in here.

If I have it wrong, post a clear timeline as its not clear.

D70

TBagpuss

What is the policy for hand-overs? I would expect for something like this that you are supposed to check, not simply sign a pre-printed form, or what's the point of having it signed?
Did you have to complete a handover form on the Sunday night, and if so, did you record the error at that time?
On the face of it, it sounds as though you were at fault in not spotting this on the Friday, so it may be that your best bet is to go to the meeting and acknowledge that, but stress the steps you took to correctthe issue once you became aware of it.

But speak to your union and get advice and support from them.

elsien

You may not have physically dispensed the medication, but you were countersigning to say you had witnessed the medication and the total number of tablets was correct, as is legally required for controlled drugs. So the mistake is your responsibility as much as the other person, as you should have counted at the time.

esj13

Here's how it went - Friday 18th - 7 bottles of methadone were brought onto the project and signed in using the controlled drugs book. The medication recieved section on the seperate MAR was not signed. As I was not in on the Friday at all, this mistake has nothing to do with me.
On saturday the handover was given to another member of staff who checked the medication records and missed the missing signatures.
That morning I was asked to countersign the book and sheet as a witness to medication being administered. The bottles were all accounted for in the controlled drugs book and the total was correct (this is all a case of missing signatures only) So saturday i was not responsible.

Sunday morning i checked the medication file and missed the missing sigs. I administered the medication, the tally of bottles in stock and those remaining in the cupboard were all correct.

Sunday evening I checked the file again as per the official procedure (nothing in the procedure that says I am responsible for checking them in the morning) and noticed the issue. No one on site at this time except me and the night awake staff, so no one to report the error to at this time.

Monday morning, first thing, I handed it to the deputy manager who dealt with it. And here we are now.

agrinnall

Your problem is that although you weren't responsible for the missing signatures you were responsible for not noticing that on Saturday - I'm not sure why you say you were not responsible on Saturday. And then you compounded the error by not noticing them again on Sunday morning. So you had at least 2 opportunities to notice the missing signatures before you finally did realise. I'd imagine that your employer is now wondering what else you might be missing. I think you are going to have to fight hard not to be dismissed over this.

NewShadow

agrinnall wrote: »

Your problem is that although you weren't responsible for the missing signatures you were responsible for not noticing that on Saturday - I'm not sure why you say you were not responsible on Saturday. And then you compounded the error by not noticing them again on Sunday morning. So you had at least 2 opportunities to notice the missing signatures before you finally did realise. I'd imagine that your employer is now wondering what else you might be missing. I think you are going to have to fight hard not to be dismissed over this.

From what I can gather,

On Friday a mistake was made, and the OP was not at work, so not responsible.

On Saturday PM, as incoming staff, the OP was responsible for checking the number of drugs/bottles being administered against the tally, but a colleague was responsible for checking the log/seeing the signature.

On Sunday PM the OP was responsible for spotting the signature (the AM check was not in the procedure, but just something the OP did).

On Sunday PM the OP noticed the error and reported it to their manages at shift change Monday AM, as per the procedure.

I think, the process seems to be:

AM Stock check - outgoing person prepares drugs for distribution/ incoming person checks drugs going out and remaining against tally of stock. Both sign and countersign that the numbers add up, and outgoing person tells incoming person of any issues or errors.

PM error check - person on duty checks the book for errors and reports them for handover in the AM.

As the issues arose on Friday, and as the OP was only on duty the Saturday AM and Sunday PM, the Sunday PM was the only time the OP was responsible for checking for errors.

As the OP checks more regularly than required by the procedure, they could have spotted it sooner, but it was only their responsibility to check Sunday PM (hence saying the Saturday was someone else's fault)

When they spotted the error on the Sunday PM, they reported it at the Monday AM handover, as per the procedure.

Is that right OP?