The first British pharmacy to open for business on the internet went live on November 22. Pharmacy2u.co.uk is operated by two pharmacists in Leeds and has retail premises at Harehills Lane, Leeds.
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Pharmacy2u's homepage |
Part of that adaptation had been the development of a protocol for the sale of pharmacy medicines over the internet. A feature of the protocol was that there was no guarantee that an online purchase would be allowed. Medicines could be selected by entering the desired product name, if known, or by choosing from a list of medicines in a particular product category. Once the selection was made, an online questionnaire had to be completed. This would then be examined by a pharmacist who would decide whether the sale should be allowed or whether the potential purchaser should be sent an e-mail advising a visit to a local pharmacy or medical practitioner. If the sale was allowed, it was processed through the tills of the pharmacy's retail premises and delivered to the customer by the company's own vans. Mr Lee said that pharmacy2u had had to set up its own delivery network because the Royal Pharmaceutical Society's Code of Ethics prohibited the use of third-party carriers.
The online element of the private prescription service is limited to agreeing the price at which a prescription will be dispensed. Customers need to register with pharmacy2u in order to be able to submit prescription details and have price quotes returned by e-mail. Prescription orders cannot be placed online and no dispensing takes place until the prescription has been sent to the pharmacy. Deliveries are made by the company's vans, Mr Lee says.
An extension of the service that is under development is a pharmacy information service. As a first step, this will accept e-mailed inquiries, with responses being returned by e-mail. Subsequently it may become a real-time interactive service.
A further extension that Mr Lee wants to develop is to draw together a network of local independent pharmacies in a similar manner to the American online pharmacy cornerdrugstore.com. If successful, this would make it possible for people to place electronic orders for products and then collect them from a local pharmacy rather than have them delivered later.
A clear frustration felt by Mr Leewas that regulation has not kept up with the development of electronic trade.
"We would like the Society to regulate pharmacy on the internet," Mr Lee said. "We want to see something from the Society which says what are good and bad pharmacy websites. In the US, they have developed standards for internet pharmacy and we meet all of those standards. We want the Society to set minimum standards."
The Society's director of professional standards (Mrs Susan Sharpe) commented: "The Council's Law and Ethics Committee has already given preliminary consideration to the issue and will be very concerned to ensure the quality of all pharmaceutical services provided. We are disappointed that Mr Lee did not discuss his plans with the Society's inspector, but we will be discussing the arrangements with him in the near future.
Mr Lee told The Journal that he had tried to discuss the mattter with the Society without success on a number of occasions.