ONLINE pharmacies: convenience at a COST?
Keeping up with friends, work, watching TV: so much of our modern lives has moved online. Could ordering medication be next? Thanks to a surge in the number of online pharmacies, it’s possible and it does have benefits – but there are also concerns. The GHI investigates…
The introduction of the Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) in 2013, which replaced paper prescriptions with electronic versions sent from your GP to a chemist you nominate, has brought with it an influx of new online pharmacies. Rather than trudge to the chemist to collect your preordered medicines, you can have them dispensed from a warehouse straight to your door. It’s popular: the most-nominated pharmacy for EPS is pharmacy2u.co.uk, which has more than 300,000 registered nominees, and chemist-4-u.com has over 14,000, while high-street chemist Day Lewis has just 12,822 nominations across the country*.
FLY IN THE OINTMENT
There’s no denying the convenience of using an online pharmacy, but there have been problems. In April 2017, the Care Quality Commission said it was cracking down on online pharmacies in the UK after four were reprimanded for making insufficient checks on patients’ identities, poor recording of medical histories, inappropriate medicines being prescribed (where this service was offered) and lack of communication with the patient’s GP.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPHC) also told Good Housekeeping that a ‘number of concerns’ had been reported in the past 12 months from patients – about medicine that had been delivered late or not at all. But it added that all disputes had been resolved.
WHAT ABOUT URGENT PRESCRIPTIONS?
While an online pharmacy can be handy for repeat prescriptions, there are pitfalls in the system for patients prescribed emergency medication, like antibiotics. Boots Online Pharmacy says it takes three to five days to prepare a prescription, but it can take up to 10 days for it to be delivered. And, as you can’t take your prescription anywhere except for your nominated pharmacy under EPS, some people can be left without medication until it’s delivered. To help, the NHS recently introduced a ‘one-off’ service for emergencies that allows you to pick up medication from a different pharmacy if you need it urgently or are away from home.
THE GOOD NEWS
Online pharmacies are held to the same standards and checks as highstreet chemists. They need to be registered with the GPHC and, since July 2015, have had to be registered with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency. You can check the site you’re using is safe by visiting pharmacyregulation.org/ registration/internet-pharmacy.
SAFEGUARDING
In June last year, the GPHC announced proposals for safeguards to protect users of online pharmacies. It raised concerns about the ease of obtaining certain medications online, and suggested that some shouldn’t be dispensed this way, including antibiotics and strong painkillers. The proposals will be considered further later in 2019.