Community Pharmacy England (CPE) has revealed it has received “a number of concerns” in recent months about “electronic prescription service (EPS) pharmacy nominations and re-nominations without patient consent”.
It reminded pharmacy owners last week (November 28) that they “must not automatically nominate patients or reverse patient nominations”.
And it added patients must be able to change their nomination “without permission” from the currently nominated pharmacy.
Read more: ‘No plans’ to allow DSP nomination on NHS App
CPE also said it is “concerned” that “certain IT functionality available to some pharmacy owners” appeared to facilitate “automatic patient re-nomination”, noting that it is “discussing this issue” with NHS England (NHSE).
It said a CPE subcommittee discussed the issue last month, highlighting that “some patient medication record (PMR) systems” are “now introducing the functionality to prevent patients from changing their nomination to another pharmacy, despite the patient wanting to”.
Read more: NHS ‘working through constraints’ to enable online pharmacy nominations on app
“The subcommittee considered that there was no place for auto-nomination,” it stressed, adding that NHS pharmaceutical regulations “are clear” that changing a patient’s nomination requires their consent.
And the subcommittee also “considered” that NHSE should “take steps to ensure that this functionality is not available to pharmacy owners”, CPE said.
“Contractual action”
It comes as NHS Greater Manchester integrated care board (ICB) this week (December 2) told C+D that investigations into numerous pharmacies changing patients’ nominated pharmacy “without their consent” are “ongoing”.
It initially told C+D in October it was “aware” of reports that some patients in the area had experienced this, resulting in prescriptions “being sent to the wrong pharmacy”.
“We take these concerns very seriously,” it said at the time, stressing that an investigation would be carried out and that the pharmacies would be contacted to “seek assurances that appropriate procedures are being followed”.
Read more: COVID-19: Online pharmacies see rise in prescription nominations
This week, the ICB told C+D that it is “continuing to take action with these pharmacies, particularly regarding the regulatory requirement in management of patient nominations to ensure patient safety”.
“Patient consent to review patient nomination data has been given by a number of patients and the data is being used to determine the correct course of action,” it added, noting that “NHS Greater Manchester will continue to take further appropriate contractual action”.
Community Pharmacy Greater Manchester (CPGM) also told C+D that it is “alarmed” at these reports and shared a notice recently sent to contractors by NHS Greater Manchester.
Read more: Contractors highlight fears over EPS nominations abuse
“Should an investigation show details of nomination changes without consent of the patient, actions can be taken by NHS Greater Manchester that may result in remedial notices being issued,” the reminder said.
“It may also result in the temporary suspension or removal of smartcards if it is found that there has been a breach in the use of the card and the terms and conditions agreed to on receipt of the smartcard,” it added.
C+D understands that CPE is aware of other similar incidents in addition to those under investigation in Manchester.
It comes after a health minister revealed in July that there are “no current plans” to allow patients to “directly nominate” a distance selling pharmacy (DSP) on the NHS App.
