Wales

Procedure number: / 08
Procedure title: / Difficult customers/referral of inappropriate enquiries

Objective/ aim of procedure:

To provide guidance on how to deal with difficult or inappropriate callers e.g.

  • Callers who repeatedly call for non-urgent information
  • Aggressive and abusivecallers
  • Persistent callers who call repeatedly about the same subject
  • Callers who will not allow the call to be terminated
  • Callers with psychological difficulties

Procedure:

  1. Remember to remain calm and non-judgemental, and engage a professional approach that demonstrates respect and empathy. (There may be a latent reason for the callers persistence e.g. social isolation).
  2. Ask the caller to confirm that they have understood the advice that you have given, and ask how they intend to action that advice. If the call is identified as being related to a previous call, check the caller understood the advice given at that time.
  3. Confirm to the caller that you have done all that you can, and offer to repeat the advice (e.g. ‘I realise that you are still concerned about this, but I have given you the appropriate advice/all the advice that I can’).
  4. If the caller continues to persist, you may need to be more direct. Allow the caller to express what kind of advice they expected of you. (This may well lead to the caller identifying another need/a real need that upon initial consultation was not apparent).
  5. When all options have failed, explain this to the caller, thank the caller for using the service and invite them to access an alternative service e.g. GP, Community Pharmacist, NHS Direct or other Healthcare professional in the future should they consider that they may be able to help.
  6. If the pharmacist finds difficulty ending the call the duty manager/senior information pharmacist may be asked to intervene to support ending the call.
  7. It may be necessary to inform the caller that this Trust operates a zero-tolerance policy to abusive/aggressive behaviour to its staff. Consider saying something like “I’m afraid I find your behaviour/language unacceptable, if you continue I will have to terminate this call’. It may be appropriate to give the warning a second time if the behaviour/language continues. If it continues after a second warning say something like ‘As you have not heeded my requests to stop your unacceptable behaviour/language I am now going to terminate this call’.

Continued : ...

Procedure number: / 08
Procedure title: / Difficult customers/referral of inappropriate enquiries

Continued : ...

  1. Terminate the call.
  2. Document the outcome on MiDatabank.

Date of Issue:March 2009Approved by: Fiona Woods, Director, WMIC Review Date: March 2011

Version Number:v1.2

This procedure was produced by the Welsh Medicines Information Pharmacists Group