Pharmacist prescribing on the National Health Service was one of five future options for the supply of emergency hormonal contraception (EHC) outlined by Mr HEMANT PATEL (North East Thames regional representative, PSNC) in an address to the LPC conference. The five options were: emergency supply; supply under patient group direction; pharmacist prescribing; general medical practitioner prescribing; and reclassification as an over-the-counter medicine.
Mr Patel noted that the Government had suggested that pharmacist prescribing might soon be possible (PJ, March 18, p424). However, this was currently opposed by some doctors and pharmacists, as well as the over-the-counter medicines industry.
The pharmacy profession was suffering from an identity crisis as its role shifted from technical and supply matters toward knowledge-based services. Pharmacists' performance in drug therapy decision making could be assessed on one of four levels, Mr Patel suggested. These were:
Turning to EHC, Mr Patel said that at present this was only available, free-of-charge, on prescription from a general medical practitioner. Two future routes for it were either reclassification as a pharmacy medicine, on which the Medicines Control Agency had started consultations, or to allow pharmacists to prescribe it, free of charge, on the NHS.
He strongly favoured the second route. Some of the problems with the P medicine route were that it imposed a cost on the patient and it lost the opportunity to collect drug-, patient- and area-specific data - data which were used in developing public health agendas and setting budgets.
If EHC was available as a pharmacist prescribable medicine on the NHS then it would be free of charge, data could be collected, greater control over its therapeutic safety would be exercised, religious and moral objections to its supply would be reduced and indemnity would be available from the NHS. Successful implementation of the prescribing of this medicine could lead to others being reclassified as pharmacist prescribable. He urged all LPC representatives to write to their Members of Parliament and to the MCA supporting this option.
Speaking to The Journal after the meeting, Mr Patel said that the issue of pharmacist prescribing was about confirming pharmacists' professional status as opposed to trader status.
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