The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7499 p495
26 April 2008

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Pharmacists in Scotland still loaning medicines

Urgent provision of repeat medicines in Scotland is still being undertaken using loans or emergency supply regulations despite a national patient group direction being in place, according to a study conducted by researchers at the school of pharmacy, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen.

Preliminary results from the study were presented at the Health Services Research and Pharmacy Practice Conference held in Liverpool last week.

A questionnaire was sent to a random sample of 500 registered community pharmacists in Scotland in November 2006 to elicit views on the PGD and its use. A response rate of 41 per cent (201) was achieved.

There was a high level of awareness of the PGD: 99 per cent of respondents were registered with the NHS to make supplies. The majority (87 per cent) had made a supply using the PGD and more than half (54 per cent) had made between one and five supplies in the previous month.

However, 53 per cent reported loaning medicines in the previous month to patients eligible for supply under the PGD and 31 per cent reported supplying under emergency supply regulations.

In contrast to the activity data obtained, most pharmacists said that using the PGD was preferable to loaning (79 per cent) or providing an emergency supply (76 per cent). Respondents found GPs were generally supportive of supplies made under the system (42 per cent) and that the associated administration was manageable (56 per cent).

There did not appear to be a need for further training, with 74 per cent disagreeing or disagreeing strongly that they needed further training. Only 67 per cent of respondents said that all of their locums were registered to use the PGD.

David Pfleger, who presented the study results, suggested that poor uptake could be because of the way the system was implemented. It was developed over two months during the run-up to the Christmas holidays and launched quickly, he explained. At the time of launch, there was some misunderstanding about whether it was going to be permanent or just for that Christmas period, he added.

Mr Pfleger concluded that further work should be undertaken to identify why the PGD is not being used and how its use could be promoted.