EXCLUSIVE

Almost eight in every 10 pharmacists believe GPs are influencing where patients collect their prescriptions.

Seventy-nine per cent of 223 respondents to a C+D poll, run in collaboration with Avicenna on the C+D website between April 28 and May 5, said they suspected GPs in their area of “directing prescriptions to their own in-house pharmacies” or to an internet business.

The most common reason GPs gave patients for suggesting their script was sent to a certain pharmacy was that it would be “easier to manage [their] medication and record keeping”, according to 29 per cent of readers who responded to a follow-up poll.

Nineteen per cent of 86 respondents to the second poll, which ran May 7-11, said “better service levels” was the most common excuse given by GPs. Sixteen per cent said GPs most often claimed that directing scripts would make repeat prescriptions easier to manage.

PSNC: A “significant” issue

PSNC director of regulation and support Steve Lutener told C+D that script directing was a “significant issue" and the regulator "continued to hear from LPCs who are concerned about it”.

“Anything that puts undue pressure on patients can interfere with their unfettered choice of pharmacy and so is not acceptable,” he added.

Sid Dajani, contractor and member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s English Pharmacy Board, said the problem would remain until the contracts for GPs and pharmacists were aligned. “Until we’re not in competition with each other we’ll always have GPs directing prescriptions, undermining confidence in pharmacy [and] hogging commissioning resources,” he told C+D.

Pharmacy Voice representative Gareth Jones said there were only a few “exceptional circumstances” in which it would be appropriate for GPs to suggest a particular pharmacy. “One example may be if a patient gets a late GP appointment and there is only one local pharmacy open after 7pm,” he told C+D.

The organisation took prescription direction “very seriously” and had worked with PSNC and the British Medical Association to urge NHS England and the General Pharmaceutical Council to “respond robustly” to the problem.

Last week, PSNC revealed that NHS England was developing a poster to raise awareness of prescription direction among pharmacy patients.

Pharmacy lawyer David Reissner has warned in a C+D blog that prescription direction is heading for the courts.

 

Are you aware of GPs directing presciptions in your area?

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