On August 1, Dudley CCG stopped the routine prescribing of “self-care medicines” – including paracetamol and headlice lotion – and medicines “that have no clear health benefit for patients” – including cough syrups and vitamin supplements – it confirmed in a statement on its website.

The CCG spends “around £2 million per year” on these medicines, it claimed.

A poster (below) produced by the CCG to announce the “new prescribing policy in Dudley” states that “prescriptions for self-care medicines are no longer available from your GP” and instead encourages patients to “buy these [medicines] over the counter at your local pharmacy”.

From 1 August prescriptions for certain medicines available over the counter in pharmacies & from shops & supermarkets will stop #HelpUrNHS pic.twitter.com/kiCOrKR9NM

— Dudley CCG (@DudleyCCG) August 1, 2017

“The problem is, the statement is not true,” Professor Azeem Majeed, head of primary care and public health at Imperial College London, told C+D last week (August 10).

“Those drugs are still available from GPs. CCGs have no power over the prescribing of drugs by GPs, that power lies with the Department of Health (DH),” he claimed.

Professor Majeed – who is also a part-time GP in London – said restricting access to these medicines could "hit poor people harder...because if you're a single mother, paracetamol can be quite costly".

Reported to the regulator

Professor Majeed reported the poster to advertising regulator the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) at the beginning of the month and asked for “its opinion” on whether the poster is misleading.

The ASA told him last week (August 11) it could not take the complaint further, as it is not responsible for advertising by public bodies.

Professor Majeed acknowledged that the CCG’s policy is “in some ways laudable”, because it encourages patients to pay for medicines that are more expensive when funded by the NHS.

“But to tell people those are not available is something entirely different,” he claimed. “The CCG is trying to influence a policy which has no legal backing or legal basis.”

Dudley CCG was unable to comment on Professor Majeed's claims at time of going to press.

At the time of announcing the new policy, Dr David Hegarty, chair of Dudley CCG, said: “The decision to stop prescribing such medicines is welcomed by local GPs, as self-care for such ailments has always been encouraged.”

He added that the CCG will introduce an “enhanced” community pharmacy minor ailments scheme from March 2018.

LPC response

Pete Szczepanski, chief officer of Dudley local pharmaceutical committee (LPC), said he was unable to comment on Professor Majeed’s claims, and the LPC continues to “maintain a close professional working relationship with Dudley CCG”.

“Dudley CCG commissioned a ‘Pharmacy First scheme’ for over 16’s, which we wholeheartedly embrace as it encourages the residents to go to their local community pharmacy first to seek advice on their conditions,” Mr Szczepanski added.

NHS England’s prescription agenda

In June, C+D hosted a roundtable debate with representatives from pharmacy, commissioning and Coeliac UK to discuss NHS England’s plans to scrap a range of products and services from prescriptions.

You can listen to the full debate in the podcast below.