The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7322 p589
23 October 2004

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

Society asks DoH for clarification on issue of personal control

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has held a meeting with the chief pharmaceutical officer for England, Jim Smith, to discuss the issue of personal control in pharmacies.

The 13 October meeting was arranged because of concerns raised by pharmacists about the interpretation of “personal control” in relation to the sale of general sale list medicines.

The Society believes that an anomaly in the Medicines Act 1968 allows the sale of GSL medicines from general retail establishments while restricting sales of GSL medicines from a pharmacy in the temporary absence of a pharmacist.

The Society says that the Department is considering whether changes in the law are necessary. In the meantime the Society advises members “that it has no option but to enforce the law and therefore that all provisions of the Medicines Act 1968 must be complied with”.