Internet pharmacies accused of aggressive sign-up tactics
Business Reports of internet pharmacy companies setting up in GP surgeries to gain customers ahead of the switch to paperless prescriptions is causing alarm in the industry
Internet pharmacy companies are using increasingly aggressive methods to gain customers ahead of the switch to paperless prescriptions, pharmacists have reported.
Companies were setting up stalls in GP surgeries and creating a "real challenge" for local contractors, industry insiders told C+D.
They cited the rollout of paperless prescriptions, which will enable patients to nominate a pharmacy from their GP surgery, as a potential reason behind the spike in marketing. Latest figures show 943 GP practices in England have upgraded to the system – 11 per cent of the 8,228 across the country.
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Distance selling has usurped the 100-hour contract as the major threat to pharmacy, said IPF chief Fin McCaul |
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Jignesh Patel, owner of Rohpharm Pharmacy, Plaistow, said the switch to the second phase of the electronic prescription service (EPS) could prove a "dangerous" time for independent pharmacists. One pharmacy company had gone to a GP surgery in his area to sign up patients, Mr Patel told C+D. |
Pharmacy2U clashes with GPs and pharmacists over advertising|
"They actually had a guy signing up people at a table," he reported. "We had to do a lot of negotiating with the GP practice to say this doesn't seem ethical." The reports appeared to directly contravene General Medical Council guidance on commercial interests, published in March, which emphasised the importance of patient choice and warned against directing prescriptions. North-East London LPC secretary Hemant Patel said he had witnessed growing competition from internet pharmacies in his area. He unveiled plans to launch a direct mail campaign to promote the benefits of local pharmacies to patients, which he said was supported by local authorities. Last week, C+D readers voiced fears over internet pharmacy in response to news that Pharmacy2U was sending out direct marketing to patients. Posting on C+D's website, readers warned there would be stiffer competition to come. "The independent sector has been slow to pick up on the dangers inherent in EPS once rollout is national," said reader Oliver Harris. "This is just the tip of the looming iceberg as EPS 2 is rolled out," said superintendent Max Falconer. "I can predict the most unseemly, disgraceful, illegal and time-wasting debacle as a massive ongoing landgrab for patients drains the remaining energy and professionalism from pharmacy." |
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David Reissner, head of healthcare at Charles Russell, reports a surge in internet pharmacy applications"There certainly seem to be more distance-selling applications being made this year compared with the number made under the old control of entry regulations. Applicants tend to see that as the easiest way of getting a contract. "Having said that, it's not straightforward – we're seeing NHS England turn down what seem to be fairly straightforward applications, sometimes on fairly specious grounds. We're pursuing a number of appeals against refusals. "I have one case, for example, where NHS England said it wasn't satisfied my client would meet clinical governance requirements, which they said was an essential service. Clinical governance isn't an essential service, so we appealed. "In the appeal, NHS England has tried to give all sorts of other justifications for having turned down the application, saying they didn't know what my client's staffing level would be or how they were going to carry out that service. We wouldn't have considered it necessary normally to mention that they would be using a third-party delivery service, but NHS England turned it down on that basis. "I think NHS England is trying to control numbers of all pharmacies and they certainly don't want distance-selling pharmacies, because every new pharmacy costs the NHS money." |
Independent Pharmacy Federation chair Fin McCaul told C+D many small businesses were also looking to get in on the act, and reported that one pharmacist had set up an internet pharmacy business in their garage.
"It's distance-selling that's causing challenges for pharmacy now, as opposed to the 100-hour contract," he said. "Business is very challenging and it seems to be getting tougher."
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