Contractors have raised concerns that some pharmacists are taking advantage of the electronic prescription service (EPS) by signing up patients for their services without consent.
Some pharmacies had forced through electronic patient nominations themselves in an effort to boost business, contractors have claimed. This resulted in GPs automatically sending prescriptions to the pharmacies against patients' wishes, they told C+D.
The claims, which contravene the community pharmacy terms of service, prompted PSNC to warn that there was "active monitoring" of the EPS system and reiterate that contractors are required to ask for patient consent before putting through a nomination, which should be backed by an "accountable auditing process". Any breach of the terms could trigger an investigation by NHS England, the negotiator warned last week (August 28).
Independent Pharmacy Federation chair and contractor Fin McCaul reported similar tactics where his pharmacy is based in north-west England. "Pharmacies should have a signature for each patient. They really shouldn't be doing this," he stressed.
"The danger is the pharmacy will create a lot of ill feeling with the patient, so there may be a short-term gain but, in the long term, it's more likely to damage their business," he argued.
Doncaster and Nottinghamshire LPCs secretary Nick Hunter said he had also encountered difficulties with the EPS system in his areas. Although pharmacies were not bypassing patient consent altogether, he said some were using consent given up to two years ago, leading to confusion among patients.
"What we've said now is that if a nomination is more than six months old, you should be reconfirming it with the patient," he told C+D. "If they haven't come in recently, you have a professional obligation to be checking that."
Contractors found flouting these terms could face a fitness-to-practise investigation, warned Charles Russell head of healthcare David Reissner. "If somebody passes on nominations when there's been no discussion with the patient, then I think the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) could take an interest, because the pharmacist is likely to make a financial gain as a result of a false statement," he told C+D.
GPhC standards state that pharmacy professionals should always obtain consent to provide professional services and use patient information.