The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) today (February 10) told C+D that it is set to publish additional guidance clarifying that it would “not be appropriate” for online pharmacies to prescribe high-risk medicines – including weight loss injections – based on a photograph or pre-recorded video.
Last week, the GPhC published new rules banning online pharmacies from prescribing high-risk medicine based on online questionnaires alone.
Read more: Chemist4U: Weight loss video consultations will cause ‘bottlenecks’
It stressed they must “independently verify” patients’ weight and height before prescribing weight loss drugs in particular.
Days after the guidance’s publication, “leading online pharmacy” Chemist4U claimed that online pharmacies can “confirm patient information through recent photographs, provided they can verify the individual’s identity and the photo’s recency”.
But now, the GPhC has confirmed that Chemist4U is not correct.
“Difficult to verify”
In an FAQ seen by C+D, due to be published shortly, the GPhC said that “it would not be appropriate to solely use a photograph or pre-recorded video supplied by the person to verify their weight, height and/or body mass index”.
“This is because it can be difficult to verify someone’s weight from a photo or pre-recorded video alone,” it said.
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“It would be particularly challenging to verify someone’s weight from a photo or video if they had a BMI between 25-30,” it added.
“There is also the potential risk that a photo or pre-recorded video could be digitally edited by the person,” it said.
“It may in some circumstances be appropriate to use a photo or video recording when the prescriber is providing a subsequent prescription for an ongoing supply, where other means have been used to verify the initial weight before the first supply was made to the person,” it added.
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“But there would need to be a mechanism to check how the person’s weight loss is progressing and monitor and verify it periodically,” it said.
The FAQ reiterated that verifying information through a phone call would also “not be appropriate when supplying medication for weight loss”.
However, prescribers can independently verify a patient’s weight, height and/or body mass index “through a video consultation, in-person, from the person’s clinical records or by contacting another healthcare provider such as the person’s GP”, it said.
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“If the prescriber is not able to verify the weight, height and/or BMI the person provides, or any other information they need, the person should be directed to an appropriate care provider so that they can be appropriately assessed,” it added.
Chemist4U last week warned that the new guidance “may lead to unnecessary bottlenecks and delays in patient access” for online pharmacies that “rely solely on video consultations”.
