The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7441 p263
3 March 2007

Society summary

Society consultation on professional standards for internet pharmacy services and advertising

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has begun a consultation on two further professional standards documents intended to support the revised Code of Ethics. The documents cover internet pharmacy services and the advertising of medicines and professional services.

The new documents bring to seven the number of draft guidance documents currently subject to consultation. In January, the Society began consulting on draft guidance in the following five areas: patient consent; patient confidentiality; sale and supply of medicines; standards for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in positions of authority; and pharmacist prescribers (PJ, 20 January, p82). Final responses to those consultations must be submitted by 9 March. For the two new draft professional standards documents, the consultation will run for six weeks until 13 April 2007.

The revised Code of Ethics is much more concise than the current codes, being based on seven principles that will inform the conduct, performance and practice of all registered pharmacy professionals. Each principle is supported by statements intended to explain the types of behaviour and actions expected when pharmacy professionals apply the principles in practice. The seven documents now subject to consultation have been produced for specific areas of practice for which more detailed guidance is considered necessary. When they are launched, the standards in these documents will be mandatory.

The Society’s head of professional ethics, Lynsey Balmer, says: “These consultations give the profession and the public the opportunity to have early input into these standards and guidance documents, and therefore a real input into the shaping of the performance measures that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will work towards in the future.

“We urge pharmacists and pharmacy technicians to respond to these consultations to help ensure that the documents are relevant to current and future practice. Some of the documents may not be relevant to everyone, but pharmacists and technicians are being encouraged to respond to those documents that relate to their everyday practice.”

The content of the two new documents is summarised below.

Internet pharmacy

The draft “Internet pharmacy services” document sets out mandatory professional responsibilities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians involved in the sale and supply of medicines via the internet. In expanding on the principles of the revised Code of Ethics it focuses particularly on the first principle: “Make the care of patients your first concern”.

The document has nine main sections. The first sets out the Society’s definition of internet pharmacy and lists requirements of the Medicines Act 1968 that are relevant to the sale and supply of medicines via the internet.

Section 2 says that patients and the public must be able to identify who is operating a registered internet pharmacy. To that end it specifies that, as well as complying with relevant legislation, a pharmacy website must clearly display the name and owner of the business, the address of the pharmacy at which the business is conducted, the name of the superintendent pharmacist (where applicable), information about how to confirm the registration status of the pharmacy and pharmacist, and details of how to make a complaint about the services provided. It adds that the Society is currently piloting the use of an internet pharmacy logo to help the public identify bona fide internet pharmacies. If the pilot is a success, all registered pharmacy internet sites will be required to display the logo.

Section 3 sets out standards for security and confidentiality and Section 4 lays down standards for protecting patient choice.

Section 5 sets out standards and guidance designed to ensure that users of the online service receive pharmaceutical care of the same quality as would be provided face to face in the pharmacy. It lists seven specific requirements relating to the supply of non-prescription medicines and a further six for the supply of medicines against prescriptions.

Section 6 lays down standards for the provision of information and advice, to ensure that all information is accurate and of a high standard, includes details of contraindications and side-effects and complies with relevant legislation. Section 7 sets out standards for the home delivery of medicines, by post or other means, to ensure that they are delivered safely and with appropriate instructions.

Section 8 sets out additional standards and guidance relating to the supply of medicines to patients overseas and Section 9 lays down standards for record keeping.

Advertising

The draft “Advertising of medicines and professional service” document expands on the principles of the revised Code of Ethics to set out mandatory professional responsibilities for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians when advertising their services and to provide good practice guidance on meeting those standards. It focuses particularly on the sixth principle: “Be honest and trustworthy”.

The first of the document’s five sections says that pharmacies meet the public interest by providing information about their opening hours and the services available but warns that any information or publicity material about pharmacy services must be honest and accurate and should reflect the professional nature of pharmacy. It also draws attention to relevant legal restrictions on the advertising of medicines.

Section 2 sets out standards and good practice guidance relevant to all information and publicity for goods and professional pharmacy services.

Section 3 lays down standards specifically on the promotion of medicines. It also offers good practice guidance on the types of promotional campaigns that are acceptable, explaining that promotional methods acceptable for general sale list medicines may not be professionally acceptable for pharmacy medicines.

Section 4 deals with the use of the Society’s faceted green cross logo. Section 5 states that use of the Society’s coat of arms is not permitted, being restricted to materials generated by the Society itself.

Questionnaires

As with the earlier consultation, both the new documents are accompanied by questionnaire forms designed to determine whether respondents consider the draft standards and guidance to be relevant, appropriate and sufficiently robust to protect the public and the profession adequately.