UK Code: More Complaints From Companies In 1996

The UK Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority received 102complaints in 1996, compared with 104 in 1995. 42 of 1996's complaints came from health professionals and 48 from other companies, making it the first year in which the number of inter-company complaints has exceeded those received from health professionals, says the Authority's report for 1996.

There is no apparent reason for this, it says, and "it will be interesting to see whether it will prove to be an exception or the beginning of a new trend." In the first six months of 1997, 66 complaints were received, of which 33 came from health professionals and 20 from companies.

The Code of Practice Panel made 208 rulings in 1996. Of these, 165 (79%) were accepted by the complainants and respondents, 32 (15%) were unsuccessfullly appealed to the Code of Practice Appeal Board and 11 (5%) were successfully appealed. The average time taken to deal with complaints fell slightly, from eight weeks to a little over seven weeks, and the Authority aims to reduce this further. The average time taken to complete cases which went to appeal rose from 15 weeks in 1995 to nearly 16 weeks, due to one case which took many months to resolve.