HK Pharmacist Registration cheat sheet

Cap. 138 regulates poisons, pharmacy practice and dispensing; the Pharmacy and Poisons Board (PPB) administers registration and discipline, while the Director of Health/Pharmacy and Poisons Ordinance enforcement officers handle inspection and prosecution.

Part 1 poison categories: the First Schedule lists poisons subject to full record-keeping and labelling controls; the Second Schedule covers less restricted poisons; the Third Schedule lists substances exempt from specified provisions - check the actual schedule before classifying a substance.

Antibiotics (Fourth Schedule) may be sold only on a prescription by a registered medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon, and only by a registered pharmacist or in a licensed premises under pharmacist supervision.

A poison listed in the First Schedule may only be sold by a registered pharmacist, or in a pharmacy under the supervision of a registered pharmacist; sale by unregistered persons is an offence unless a specific exemption applies.

Record requirements: First Schedule poisons require entry of date, name and quantity of the poison, name and address of the purchaser, and the prescriber where applicable; records must be retained for the period prescribed by the regulations (currently two years) and be available for inspection.

Labelling: containers of poisons must bear the word 'POISON' (or Chinese equivalent) and, for First Schedule poisons, the name and quantity of the poison, the name and address of the seller, and any prescribed caution; the 'poison' label must be in a prescribed form.

Registration: a person must be registered as a pharmacist with the PPB to practise; registration requires an approved degree, supervised practical training and passing the Board's examination, and annual practising certificate renewal.

Disciplinary powers: the Board may inquire into allegations of professional misconduct, conviction for an offence involving dishonesty, or unfitness to practise, and may remove a name from the register or suspend registration; appeal lies to the Court of Appeal.

Subsidiary legislation includes the Pharmacy and Poisons Regulations (records, labelling, containers, storage) and the Poisons List Regulations; the Chinese Medicine Ordinance (Cap. 549) is a separate regime and does not authorise dispensing of western poisons.

Dispensing standard: a prescription must be checked for prescriber legitimacy, patient identity, drug name, strength, dose, frequency, duration and route; ambiguous or incomplete prescriptions are clarified with the prescriber before dispensing, not guessed.

Prescription retention: dispensed prescriptions must be retained and recorded as required by the regulations; repeat dispensing requires a valid repeat authorisation and the interval and number of repeats must not be exceeded.

Counselling is a professional obligation: the pharmacist should explain indication, dose, administration, common and serious adverse effects, interactions, storage and what to do if a dose is missed; the patient's understanding should be confirmed.

Substitution and generic dispensing: substitution is permitted only where legally allowed and clinically appropriate; the pharmacist must consider bioequivalence, formulation differences and patient factors, and must not substitute where the prescriber has indicated 'no substitution'.

Controlled and high-risk medicines require additional safeguards: double-checking of calculations, recording of batch and expiry for extemporaneous preparations, and secure storage under lock with restricted access.

Record-keeping and confidentiality: patient records are confidential and may be disclosed only with consent or where required by law (e.g., statutory notification, court order); records must be accurate, contemporaneous and retained per regulatory requirements.

Error management: dispensing errors must be documented, disclosed to the patient where harm is possible, reported through the appropriate incident system, and reviewed to prevent recurrence; concealment is professional misconduct.

Advertising and commercial conduct: pharmacists must not advertise professional services in a manner that is false, misleading or likely to create an unjustified expectation; inducements must not compromise independent professional judgement.

Competence and CPD: maintaining competence through continuing professional development is an expected professional duty; practising outside one's competence without referral or supervision is a conduct issue.