Pharmacists need to make the public more aware of the dangers of driving while taking medicines that induce drowsiness, pharmacy leaders have warned.  

Pharmacists could ask more questions about their patients' intentions to drive and reinforce the message that some prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs can cause drowsiness, Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) English Pharmacy Board vice chair Ash Soni told C+D.  

NPA director of pharmacy Deborah Evans echoed Mr Soni's call, adding that it was "critical" that pharmacy teams were fully trained to "appropriately apply their knowledge". 

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	Their warnings came in response to a survey of 2,000 people, published on Friday (July 2), which found that a fifth of patients who feel ill from their medication get behind the wheel regardless.

Nine per cent of respondents to the poll – carried out in June on behalf of car insurance comparison site confused.com – said they never read patient information leaflets to see if a medicine could cause side effects.

Thirty-three per cent said they had fallen ill after taking prescription or OTC medicines and 20 per cent of those said they had gone on to drive. Twelve per cent of people said they had driven after taking prescription drugs and a further seven per cent admitted to driving after taking illegal drugs.

Mr Soni said it was up to pharmacists to advise people not to drive or to take an alternative medicine to avoid drowsiness. "We can raise awareness so people know that there is a possibility that the medication they are taking may impact on their ability to drive, as people do that inadvertently," Mr Soni said. "From a pharmacists' perspective, we should be asking people more questions."

The government launched a two-month consultation on July 9 on plans to introduce a new driving offence that would target drivers with illegal drugs in their system. The plans will also reduce the risk of drivers taking prescribed medicines being unduly penalised.