Pharmacists have raised concerns that an article published by the Mail Online may lead patients to “essentially lie to get antibiotics” during Pharmacy First consultations.
In the article originally titled “Revealed: What you need to say to a pharmacist to get antibiotics for your sore throat”, the tabloid this week (November 11) said that it could “reveal the simple test that’s used by pharmacists to determine if your painful throat is bad enough for prescribed medication”.
Read more: Pharmacy First to be ‘closely monitored’ for antimicrobial resistance risk
“The test — developed by NHS England (NHSE) — gives patients a score out of five depending on the presence of five symptoms and how severe they are,” it added.
Describing the sore throat patient group direction (PGD), the article explained how patients can “score an extra point” on the test, and said that by reporting “severe” pain patients are more likely to secure an antibiotic prescription.
“Potential to mislead”
Community Pharmacy England (CPE) yesterday told C+D that the Mail changed its headline to “Got a sore throat? You pharmacist CAN give you antibiotics, but you’ll need to answer these five questions first...” following concerns from the negotiator.
“We were concerned about the potential for the headline to mislead,” it said.
Read more: NHSE: Infection tests may be ‘introduced’ to Pharmacy First to tackle AMR
It stressed that this was an issue “particularly when we’ve been working to create an image of pharmacists as highly trained healthcare professionals who provide clinical services in a responsible way”.
“We therefore raised our concerns with the Mail and are pleased to confirm changes have been made,” it added.
“Incredibly irresponsible”
Speaking to C+D yesterday, pharmacist Ben Merriman said that it was “incredibly irresponsible of a national newspaper to be essentially showing people how to game the system”.
“We use the fever pain score as a means to try and work out whether the infection is bacterial or viral, and if a patient doesn’t have bacterial throat symptoms then antibiotics are likely not going to do anything for them” and could cause “side effects”, he added.
“Pharmacy First is not just about controlling access to antibiotics, it’s about making sure that patients get the right treatment if they need - if patients aren’t telling us the truth, we’re not going to be able to give them the right information about whether they do need to see somebody like a GP, or if they need to go to hospital,” he told C+D.
Read more: NHSE relaunches Pharmacy First marketing campaign with ‘minor revisions’
Beyond patients “risking their health”, Merriman said that antimicrobial resistance (AMR) caused by inappropriate antibiotic use risks “the health of the general population”.
“We are all aware of the massive threat of AMR and to essentially lie to get antibiotics that are more than likely not going to work is incredibly selfish,” he added.
“I’m stunned that this is in any way is considered appropriate by a national newspaper,” he added.
“Even more difficult for pharmacy”
Meanwhile, community pharmacist and chair of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) digital expert advisory group Darren Powell stressed that the article is “still irresponsible” after its headline change.
“As a profession, we are criticised for being able to provide antibiotics, and there is always a patient expectation that they will get an antibiotic for their ‘viral sore throat’,” he told C+D.
“I’m disappointed that this article will probably make consultations even more difficult for pharmacy teams,” he added.
Read more: Third of public still ‘unaware’ of Pharmacy First service
Pharmacist and co-owner of Imaan Healthcare Mark Bartley told C+D that “on one hand” the publication of the guidelines may “rule out people who are ineligible”.
But he added that patients may “modify their answers so that they fit within the criteria”.
C+D approached the Mail for comment.
Read more: Pharmacy First sore throat service set to launch across NI
Meanwhile, the pharmacy negotiator, NHSE and the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) said in November last year that they will be “closely monitoring the Pharmacy First service post-launch, particularly in relation to antimicrobial supply to guard against the risk of increasing AMR”.
Also last year, the Pharmacy First service came under attack from a group of scientists who claimed that enabling community pharmacists to treat seven minor illnesses could lead to antibiotic resistance.
Pharmacists hit back at the claims, branding them “disingenuous”.
