In October 2024, the GPhC published draft proposals to renew the guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance, including on the internet, as it had identified some changes it wanted to make to improve patient safety.
Following long standing concerns about asynchronous and questionnaire-based consultations and emphasising the need for a patient’s GP to be informed of any medication prescribed to ensure patient safety, the PDA provided a detailed response to the consultation which can be found here. This feedback included specific recommendations for the wording of the revised guidance in areas that were felt to be too weak or open to interpretation.
On questionnaire-based consultations, the PDA welcomes that weight management medication has been included in the high-risk treatments which should not be supplied based on an online questionnaire alone. The new GPhC guidance states that the prescriber independently verifies the person’s weight, height and/or body mass index, which could be through a video consultation, in person, from the person’s clinical records or by contacting another healthcare provider such as the person’s GP.
However, where there might not be access to the NHS GP patient record, or where consent is not given by the patient for their GP to be contacted, there is scope for a medication to be prescribed without those vital checks being made. The PDA believes this could still introduce significant risk.
The revised regulatory guidance now specifically notes the role of a Superintendent Pharmacist and their role in maintaining standards for services provided from registered pharmacy premises as well as the responsibility of pharmacy owners, which is an introduction that the PDA supports.
Alima Batchelor, Head of Policy at the PDA said, “It is disappointing to see that there is still ambiguity and room for manoeuvre where words such as ‘should’ remain, instead of a more robust ‘must’, as well as areas where the guidance is contradictory.
While the use of technology is advancing quickly in every-day-life, medicines are not usual items of commerce and there are sadly, too many cases of patient harm where medicines have been purchased online without the level of checks that should be in place to ensure patient safety.
While there are some changes that are welcome, the GPhC had an opportunity to strengthen guidance to remove any doubt about what is required from providers in this space. Our view is that the new guidance does not satisfactorily address this”.
The PDA will continue to work with the GPhC to see how these areas can be addressed.
Learn more
- PDA highlights proposed changes to the GPhC’s online prescribing guidance currently under consultation
- PDA discusses online supply of GLP-1 RA weight loss products on Woman’s Hour
- PDA cannot support DiCE best practice guidance for online prescribing of GLP-1 receptor agonists for weight management in adults
- Urgent alert for online prescribing pharmacists working in the private sector
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