GPhC proposes extra safeguards to prevent unsafe online supplies of medicines

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) is seeking feedback on proposed changes to its guidance, to help improve patient safety for patients and the public getting medicines from online pharmacies.

The changes are being proposed to help prevent people from receiving medicines from online pharmacies that are not clinically appropriate for them and may cause them harm.

The key changes being proposed include:

• Requiring online pharmacies to put extra safeguards in place when prescribing or supplying medicines which are known to be associated with greater risks, including those used for weight loss.
• Emphasising that some medicines are not suitable to be prescribed using an online questionnaire alone, and that there should be a means to allow two-way communication between the person and the prescriber for all online prescribing.
• Providing further guidance for the prescriber on what they should do to verify the information that is provided to them by the person for some medicines, especially for medicines associated with greater risks, through a phone call, video consultation, or by contacting the person’s GP.
• Providing further guidance for prescribers to follow in circumstances where the person requesting a medicine does not have a regular prescriber such as a GP, or if the person has not given consent to the prescriber to share information with the person’s GP.
• Making Superintendent Pharmacists jointly responsible with pharmacy owners for meeting the guidance.

The pharmacy regulator is proposing these changes in response to concerns it has identified relating to inappropriate supplies of medicines, including medicines used for weight-loss, that could result in risks and harm to patients. These concerns have been identified through GPhC inspections and enforcement action against online pharmacies, fitness to practise concerns raised with the regulator, and through working closely with other regulators.

Duncan Rudkin, Chief Executive at the General Pharmaceutical Council, said:

“We know that there can be significant benefits for people using online pharmacy services to get medicines and treatment, but there are also additional risks that need to be managed, to make sure medicines and other pharmacy services are provided safely to patients and the public.

“Through our inspections and investigations, we’ve seen significant risks to patient safety when online questionnaires have inappropriately been the only mode of consultation used, and when the information provided by the patient isn’t verified by the prescriber.

“We are seeking views on some important proposed changes to the guidance, which we think will improve patient safety, and we then plan to publish the updated guidance as soon as possible.”

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