The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7472 p372
6 October 2007

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NPA says pharmacists will need help with EU prescriptions

Pharmacists will need to be given detailed guidance if they are to be able to dispense prescriptions from doctors in Europe, as well as those written by UK prescribers (PJ, 25 August, p199).

This is because most EU and European Economic Area states do not have registration systems that can be checked online and, according to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, leave it to pharmacists to decide whether, and how, to authenticate prescriptions and to refuse to dispense them if they have any doubts.

Commenting on guidance to be produced by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland, Michelle Styles, head of information at the National Pharmacy Association, said: “The NPA feels strongly that any official guidance needs to be highly detailed and comprehensive. … It is particularly worrying that most EU states do not have a registration system.

“In light of this it is vital that the guidance explains what pharmacists can do in order to exercise their professional judgement when there can be no way of ensuring that the prescription originates from a legitimate prescriber.”

The NPA is also concerned that difficulties might arise in respect of medicines that are not available in all EU countries.

Mrs Styles added: “Prescriptions from other EU countries are likely to be for products licensed in that country but which may not have a UK marketing authorisation. As a result it is important for amendments to be made to explicitly allow pharmacists to make the decision to supply or not to supply when a product does not have UK authorisation.”