Say no to drugs

Drug abuse affecting the workplace is a tough topic for most companies and one most organisations take an ostrich-like approach to.

The case of the Birkenhead DO removed from the register this week should act as a warning to everyone who runs an optical practice. By taking on that role the employer places themselves in the unenviable position of being responsible for the actions of their employees and holding a position of trust and confidentiality for their patients.

Assuming your employees are ‘not the kind of people’ who indulge in this kind of behaviour or having mechanisms for sacking someone who transgresses is simply not enough.

Everyone is aware of the scale of drug taking in society, so it is reasonable to assume that now, or at some time, someone on your staff will be taking or abusing drugs. Whether someone in your practice gets charged by the police, caught out by a manager or sacked is irrelevant. The real issue is patient safety. Can you as an employer, manager, supervisor honestly say that your monitoring systems are robust enough to detect drug use?
Do all of your practice staff understand their responsibilities if they feel an optometrist or DO is abusing drugs?

Anyone who thinks they have the ability to ‘spot’ a drug user is living in a fool’s paradise. If your practice doesn’t test for drugs it doesn’t know who in your practice is using drugs.

Of course the real problem is drug abuse. Every practice has a mechanism for identifying people who abuse drugs. Unfortunately they are called patients.