The Department of Health and Social Care (DH) this week (August 12) launched a call for evidence to seek views on how the current system of “private non-NHS prescribing” operates in the UK.
“As accessibility increases, we need to ensure all the ways people access medicines legally continue to be safe and effective” and “continuously support patients”, it said.
The call for evidence will run for 12 weeks until November 4 and will help the government ensure that private prescribing remains “fit for purpose” and enables patients to “be treated by the most appropriate healthcare professional”, it added.
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According to the DH, the investigation will focus on the “effectiveness of clinical governance, oversight and regulation” for:
- Prescriptions written by prescribers registered in the European Economic Area and Switzerland that are dispensed in the UK
- Private prescriptions written by UK prescribers
- Medicines accessed through patient group directions (PGDs) outside of the NHS
It will also explore the impact that these routes of prescribing and supply have on both the safety and quality of care patients receive, it said.
“Highest standards of safety”
The department acknowledged that these routes can “offer convenience, flexibility and choice to people when accessing an increasing range of medicines”.
But it stressed that it must ensure “improving convenience and choice does not inadvertently reduce safety or quality of care”.
Responses from “the public, healthcare professionals and providers, and other interested parties” will help the DH ensure that the “highest standards of safety” are maintained across the UK, it said.
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The investigation will assess “whether appropriate safeguards and mechanisms are in place to make sure patients in the UK can safely access high-quality medicines through all legal routes”, it added.
It will also look to “build the evidence base” around the “misuse of medicines, counterfeit medicines and inappropriate advertising”, the DH said.
To prepare for this call for evidence – which is supported by the chief pharmaceutical officers (CPhO) from all four UK nations – the government “engaged closely with a range of stakeholders from across the NHS [and] private healthcare providers”, it added.
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And it said that the findings will contribute to the government’s drive for reform under the 10-year health plan and will “ensure that private prescribing remains responsive to patients’ needs”.
It comes as the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) warned about the “emerging ” issue of medicines being “supplied on private prescriptions overseas by UK pharmacies”.
And it follows a regulatory crackdown on the advertising and private prescribing of weight loss medications such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, including by online pharmacies.
