Titan PMR’s chief executive Tariq Muhammad has launched a parliament petition seeking to stop pharmacies from re-nominating patients' electronic prescription service (EPS) without their consent.
The petition has called for a ban on the technology that enables pharmacies to auto-renominate EPS patients in bulk, to increase patient numbers and revenue.
"We want the government to explicitly ban NHS system suppliers, by law, from providing any technology that may enable pharmacies to switch patient EPS nominations without informed and current consent, or in bulk using automation, and make it illegal for pharmacies to engage in this practice."
There have been reports that some pharmacies are changing the nominated pharmacy without patient consent or knowledge, and automatically renominating themselves in bulk using the technology available to them.
"This can result in confusion, inefficiency and delays to medication supplies. We believe it greatly impacts patient care and puts the EPS infrastructure at risk," the petition said.
The deadline for the petition is June 19.
The Community Pharmacy England (CPE) had earlier expressed concern about this issue and said it had received numerous complaints.
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) also said that it has received complaints of deliberately changing a patient’s NHS EPS nomination without their consent, and it is a serious matter.
Apart from causing unnecessary delays in receiving medication, it also amounts to a misuse of sensitive patient information in breach of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The regulator stated that a patient's choice is fundamental to the care they receive and is based on informed consent.
The patients must give informed, explicit consent if they want to change their nominated pharmacy.
They should not be influenced, persuaded or incentivised to nominate a specific pharmacy.
GPhC had warned that if these principles are disregarded, they will treat it as misconduct and take action.
