OTC chlamydia treatment backed
Pharmacists providing azithromycin over the counter could help to
reduce workload on doctors |
Pharmacy organisations are backing a proposal to allow community pharmacists to offer treatment for asymptomatic chlamydia infection over the counter.
The proposal comes from drug manufacturer Actavis, which has asked the
Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to reclassify
azithromycin 500mg tablets (Clamelle) from a prescription-only medicine to a pharmacy
medicine (PJ, 30 June, p759).
In its written response to the switch consultation, the Pharmaceutical
Services Negotiating Committee says the reclassification would help support
its own policy that sexual health services should be available from as
many pharmacies as possible.
Its head of regulation Steve Lutener said: “The reclassification
… allows suitably trained pharmacists to play a vital role in the
fight against sexually transmitted infection in the UK.
“This will not only reduce workload on medical practitioners but
also make the service much more accessible since patients would be able
to
access the service at a time and place to suit them without making an
appointment.”
The PSNC said it was hopeful that the technical issues around pharmacies
being able to access test results could be resolved.
The National Pharmacy Association, which is designing
a chlamydia screening service model for community pharmacists (PJ, 14 July, p34), says the
POM to P switch presents an “unparalleled opportunity for pharmacists
to become an alternative option for safe and effective treatment of chlamydia
patients.” It will give patients a new access point for chlamydia
screening — away from a GP practice or a genito-urinary medicine
clinic without the need for an appointment.
NPA information department manager Ruth Wakeman said: “The proposed
pharmacy service will complement existing provision within the NHS and
will help to ease the financial restrictions and overstretched resources
currently affecting existing services for this rapidly escalating problem.”
The Company Chemists’ Association says reclassification is a “good
test of the pharmacy’s developing clinical role and creates the
opportunity to develop signposting and joint working between pharmacy
and NHS sexual health services.”
If the POM to P move is successful it could “prove key to the creation
of a collaborative approach to the development of more self-funded services
through pharmacy as adjuncts to NHS ones,” according to its chief
executive Rob Darracott.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society also supports the switch on the grounds
that it will bring greater choice and availability for consumers.
The Society, while backing the move, did however seek further details
on how the service would sit alongside existing NHS or private health
services for chlamydia screening.
It also recommends that any agreed service model should allow pharmacists
to offer treatment to partners of women with positive test results without
the need to screen them as well. The Society is keen that anonymous patient
information should be collected as an opt-in option on the test form
and suggests that pharmacists should, in future, be included in local
networks of sexual health services.
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