‘Pharmacists should have greater powers to ensure access to medicines’

Community pharmacists should be allowed to use their professional judgement to make changes to prescriptions, says the Royal Pharmaceutical Society.

As part of its submission to the Health Select Committee on COVID-19 and pharmacy, the RPS has called for medicines legislation to be amended so that community pharmacists can make changes which minimise unnecessary delays in providing patients with their medicines.

If a certain a medicine is unavailable, the proposed amends would mean that pharmacists can make changes to the strength and formulation dispensed, or supply an equivalent generic version, without having to contact the prescriber.

The Society believes this would improve access to treatment for patients and reduce the workload of GPs in England.

RPS President Sandra Gidley said: “We fully support pharmacists to use their professional judgment to put patients first and manage these changes to prescriptions. Covid-19 has seen an emphasis on pharmacists being empowered to do the right thing for patients.

“At a time when primary care services are under enormous pressure, it’s right to address this imbalance. We want the UK Government to introduce greater flexibility and improve access to medicines by enabling community pharmacists across Great Britain to make these simple changes.”

The government’s Health Select Committee has been holding inquiry until end of July into the planning and delivery of essential NHS and care services to “achieve an appropriate balance between coronavirus and ordinary health and care demand.”