Self-selection of P medicines - not in the public interest!
96 Comments
M
Monu Aggarwal
12 years ago
Self selection - Bonkers ! I think whoever thought of this idea is clearly not a pharmacist or has never dealt with the Joe blogs in the public
R
Ravinder Bansal
12 years ago
Pharmacists need to regulate these medicines to protect the public from overuse or in effective use, need for GP referral. The provision of MurS and NMS has improved the use of medicines so why put the public at risk by giving them the opportunity to overuse P medicines.....
N
Neera Sharma
12 years ago
If we are to be true to our profession and place patient's health first then we need to stop this now! Self-selection will increase the harm to patient's, which is what we do not want.
D
Dr Caroline Jones
12 years ago
Featured
P-meds and its sensible access controls allow patient choice of medications that would otherwise only be available through prescription due to safety concerns.Losing this control would reduce this selection, thus wasting doctor time and increasing NHS budgets.
N
Nigel Holmes
12 years ago
A recipe for disaster. A significant number of patients who self initiate treatment are poorly compliant even with professional advice, at best it will result in a waste of money. At worst significant patient harm.
D
David Whitehead
12 years ago
Impossible to control such products effectively. Information on such products should be available easily to the public but not the products themselves. It will begin the de-regulation of medicines and the transfer of stronger medicines back to POM. WIll we all then have to become prescribers?
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
These P meds (codeine products especially) are going to be stolen for sales in local pub!
S
susan chan
12 years ago
Medicines that can be bought without any healthcare professional advice is seen by the public as 'safe', 'harmless'. They do not perceive it to be of harm if taken incorrectly or in combination with prescribed medication. Self-selection of medication will increase the likelihood of drug-interactions, adverse reactions, medication harms especially if the public has direct access to them without any advice/intervention from the pharmacist who specialise in medication. I have seen from experience that doctors or nurses do not have the scope of general medication knowledge plus pharmacist have unique skills that allow them to view medications at a different perspective to other healthcare professionals.
C
Ciaran Dunne
12 years ago
This is not in the interest of the public and could have serious implications with regards to public health regulation . As a pharmacist how can we even suggest that this is a good thing.
M
Mohammed Jaffer
12 years ago
As a pharmacist i do not think its in the patient interest for P meds to be self selection as it can compromise safety
M
Matthew Croker
12 years ago
With an alarming high rate of admissions to hospital being due to inappropriate use of OTC medicines, it scares me half to death that the General Pharmaceutical Council would make more accessible medicines which could seriously cause harm and/or death. In addition, making drugs like co-codamol more accessible to the general public is really going to aid those who are addicted, because each customer who enters the pharmacy and selects one of these products are going to actually purchase it?
L
Lucy Hunn
12 years ago
This proposal would make it impossible to maintain patient safety and is one step away from supermarkets being able to sell P meds with no regulation. I wholeheartedly disagree with the proposals
P
Phil Goddard
12 years ago
Featured
It will not improve patient safety. It will leave pharmacists even less time to provide services. There is a complete lack of understanding of the employee/employer relationship on the part of the GPhC
A
Anonymous
12 years ago
I am against the self-selection of P-medicines
A
Anna Kinsella
12 years ago
I do not believe that self selection of P meds is in the best interests of the patient. I too am in favour of the PDA's position on this.
S
Sukhdeep Kaur Aujla
12 years ago
As a profession we aim to maintain health and safety through the services we provide to the general public on a daily basis. This in itself can become quite challenging at the best of times, having such proposals from the regulator may leave some of us with very little faith. I too am in favour of the PDA.
M
Mr. Singh
12 years ago
i definitely think self selection of p meds is not in patient favour
P
Puveshni Pillay
12 years ago
Leave alone 'expertise', it puzzles me that a regulator of a profession appears to have no ground level 'knowledge' of pharmacy practice. The council's duties are to "protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of members of the public". A move to allow self-selection does not fulfil their fundamental duty.
J
JR gAUTAM
12 years ago
Our responsibility, our choice. Keep the multiple corporate bodies profit making ideas away from influencing patient safety and more importantly our profession!
O
Olu Fasogbon
12 years ago
Featured
Bear in mind that there are many P medicines which until recently were POM. So any decision to to make P medicines self selection can be likened to making POM self selection. It is not safe for the public
Self selection - Bonkers ! I think whoever thought of this idea is clearly not a pharmacist or has never dealt with the Joe blogs in the public
Pharmacists need to regulate these medicines to protect the public from overuse or in effective use, need for GP referral. The provision of MurS and NMS has improved the use of medicines so why put the public at risk by giving them the opportunity to overuse P medicines.....
If we are to be true to our profession and place patient's health first then we need to stop this now! Self-selection will increase the harm to patient's, which is what we do not want.
P-meds and its sensible access controls allow patient choice of medications that would otherwise only be available through prescription due to safety concerns.Losing this control would reduce this selection, thus wasting doctor time and increasing NHS budgets.
A recipe for disaster. A significant number of patients who self initiate treatment are poorly compliant even with professional advice, at best it will result in a waste of money. At worst significant patient harm.
Impossible to control such products effectively. Information on such products should be available easily to the public but not the products themselves. It will begin the de-regulation of medicines and the transfer of stronger medicines back to POM. WIll we all then have to become prescribers?
These P meds (codeine products especially) are going to be stolen for sales in local pub!
Medicines that can be bought without any healthcare professional advice is seen by the public as 'safe', 'harmless'. They do not perceive it to be of harm if taken incorrectly or in combination with prescribed medication. Self-selection of medication will increase the likelihood of drug-interactions, adverse reactions, medication harms especially if the public has direct access to them without any advice/intervention from the pharmacist who specialise in medication. I have seen from experience that doctors or nurses do not have the scope of general medication knowledge plus pharmacist have unique skills that allow them to view medications at a different perspective to other healthcare professionals.
This is not in the interest of the public and could have serious implications with regards to public health regulation . As a pharmacist how can we even suggest that this is a good thing.
As a pharmacist i do not think its in the patient interest for P meds to be self selection as it can compromise safety
With an alarming high rate of admissions to hospital being due to inappropriate use of OTC medicines, it scares me half to death that the General Pharmaceutical Council would make more accessible medicines which could seriously cause harm and/or death. In addition, making drugs like co-codamol more accessible to the general public is really going to aid those who are addicted, because each customer who enters the pharmacy and selects one of these products are going to actually purchase it?
This proposal would make it impossible to maintain patient safety and is one step away from supermarkets being able to sell P meds with no regulation. I wholeheartedly disagree with the proposals
It will not improve patient safety. It will leave pharmacists even less time to provide services. There is a complete lack of understanding of the employee/employer relationship on the part of the GPhC
I am against the self-selection of P-medicines
I do not believe that self selection of P meds is in the best interests of the patient. I too am in favour of the PDA's position on this.
As a profession we aim to maintain health and safety through the services we provide to the general public on a daily basis. This in itself can become quite challenging at the best of times, having such proposals from the regulator may leave some of us with very little faith. I too am in favour of the PDA.
i definitely think self selection of p meds is not in patient favour
Leave alone 'expertise', it puzzles me that a regulator of a profession appears to have no ground level 'knowledge' of pharmacy practice. The council's duties are to "protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and well-being of members of the public". A move to allow self-selection does not fulfil their fundamental duty.
Our responsibility, our choice. Keep the multiple corporate bodies profit making ideas away from influencing patient safety and more importantly our profession!
Bear in mind that there are many P medicines which until recently were POM. So any decision to to make P medicines self selection can be likened to making POM self selection. It is not safe for the public