The Centre for Pharmacy Postgraduate Education (CPPE) has launched a new “interactive” programme focused on the prescription of weight loss drugs, it last week (September 4) announced.
The organisation said that “Prescribing perspectives: A focus on weight management” is “now available for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and trainee pharmacists” who provide or are planning to provide “weight management medicines”.
Read more: Mounjaro price hike: GPhC issues weight loss jab ‘marketing’ warning
The course “helps participants adopt a structured, safe and person-centred approach” whether they are “prescribing independently or supplying via a patient group direction (PGD)”, the CPPE said.
It added that the programme, which consists of self-assessment, a workshop and peer networking, is “built around a real-life consultation between a pharmacist and a patient”.
It aims to “refine” participants’ consultation skills, “strengthen documentation practices” and allow them to “connect with colleagues”, it said.
Read more: Price hike: Obesity is poised at a critical divide in the UK
CPPE lead learning development pharmacist Hayley Berry said that it will help pharmacy professionals “strengthen their consultation and decision-making skills” and ensure “they feel confident and prepared to deliver…care in this important area of practice”.
Meanwhile, the CPPE also last week announced the launch of a new online workshop to help “independent prescribers extend the scope of their practice” and support pharmacists in developing “confidence and competence in new areas, improving access to care for patients”.
Weight loss chaos
It comes as a pharmacist has been sentenced after pleading guilty to stealing 40 boxes of Mounjaro and 60 boxes of dihydrocodeine with a combined total value of more than £4,000 from a Well Pharmacy.
And the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) last month revealed that it has written to pharmacies following reports of “inappropriate marketing messages and advice” relating to weight loss medicines such as Mounjaro and Wegovy.
The regulator said it is “receiving growing concerns” about patients receiving “inappropriate marketing messages and advice from some pharmacies” about drugs used for weight management.
Read more: Pharmacies must be at the heart of the weight loss jab revolution
It follows chaos in the sector sparked by Mounjaro manufacturer Eli Lilly’s decision to hike the UK list price of its weight loss jab by up to 170% from this month, which in turn saw several online pharmacies experience shortages of the jab.
Lilly has since confirmed it had frozen orders from wholesalers until the medicine’s price rise came into effect and invited pharmacies to participate in a “Mounjaro rebate scheme”, while the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) has agreed “redetermined” NHS reimbursement prices for the drug to reflect the uplift.
