The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7358 p72
16 July 2005

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Pharmacists will be forced to break labelling law

Pharmacists will be forced to break the law if plans to implement new European legislation in the UK go ahead, according to the National Pharmacy Association.

From the end of October, all medicines placed on the market will have to be labelled with their names in Braille (PJ, 26 March, p351). The NPA says that this will apply to medicines dispensed from bulk, as well as to those sold or supplied in manufacturers’ original packs.

Colette McCreedy, director of pharmacy practice at the NPA, said: “In addition to the Braille issue, we are still seeing problems with members trying to comply with legislation emanating from Europe which requires all dispensed medicines to be supplied with a patient information leaflet (PIL).”

The NPA view is that these issues will only be resolved when pharmacies are able to use original packs for all NHS dispensing.

“This demonstrates that EU law is created with original packs in mind and this is the way pharmacy is practised in the vast majority of EU member states,” she said.

“The NPA is handling two claims in respect of patients not being issued with a PIL Patients have a right to expect to receive the same service as other European citizens and will expect to be given medicines in patient packs designed for them by manufacturers.”

John D’Arcy, NPA chief executive, said that a factsheet produced by the Society said that any pharmacists who failed to supply PILs would be committing an offence.

Sue Kilby, head of practice at the Society said: “The Council’s Practice Committee will be producing a paper for Council to enlist their support for the move towards original pack dispensing as the standard for dispensing for both hospital and community pharmacy.”

She said that the Practice Committee had discussed the problems that pharmacists had supplying PILs at its July meeting.

Proposals that would have led to the implementation of original pack dispensing in the UK were put forward early in 1997 by the then Conservative government. But they were killed off on cost grounds later that year after the election of a Labour government (PJ, 15 November 1997, p794).