The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) last week (September 30) stressed that it is “very concerned” about reports of pharmacists being involved in the illegal supply of Botox.
Chief enforcement officer Dionne Spence said that the regulator has asked for “further details” to be shared with it “as soon as possible” so that it can investigate the reports.
The GPhC “will take enforcement action against pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians when required to protect patient safety”, she added.
Read more: Botched Botox and the law: A wake-up call for UK pharmacy
Spence also reiterated GPhC guidance on the need for a “physical examination of the person” when providing non-surgical cosmetic medical products such as Botox “to support a safe prescribing decision”.
The comments came after a BBC investigation last week revealed that pharmacists have been “putting patients at risk by supplying Botox without proper checks”.
“Coaching clients to falsify records”
The broadcaster found that one pharmacist prescriber in East London was willing to prescribe Botox “without any consultation” and was seen “handing over vials of Botox for cash with no patient in sight”.
When meeting an undercover reporter “posing as a beautician wanting prescriptions and stock for clients”, the pharmacist instructed them to “fill in records as if a consultation had taken place”, the BBC reported.
C+D approached the pharmacist prescriber for comment.
Read more: DH to crack down on unregulated ‘cowboy cosmetic’ procedures
As well as exposing this pharmacist “coaching clients to falsify records”, the BBC’s report also uncovered another pharmacist who admitted that they were “not carrying out the required face-to-face consultations”.
This pharmacist “suggested faking photographs to trick regulators into thinking they had taken place”, the report said.
“Beyond those caught on camera, the BBC uncovered extensive evidence of other…pharmacists supplying Botox illegally,” it added.
Read more: Woman fined for ‘unlawfully’ advertising Botox on ‘Doll House Beauty’ website
It comes after the Department of Health and Social Care (DH) revealed in August that it will introduce new measures to crack down on “cowboy cosmetic procedures that have left people maimed, injured and in need of urgent NHS care”.
Treatments such as Botox and lip fillers – which have been reported to be carried out in “homes, hotels and pop-up clinics” – will be subject to “stricter oversight”, it said at the time.
Meanwhile, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) stressed in June that reports of fat injections and other cosmetic procedures being administered in “pop up shops” in public toilets and hotel rooms were “deeply alarming”.
