P-med self-selection plans 'incredibly naïve', say PDA and RPS

The regulator's proposals on P medicine self-selection take naivety to "incredible levels" and fail to address patient safety concerns, the Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) and Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) have argued.

The two organisations, which have both voiced opposition to self-selection in the past, criticised General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) plans published on Wednesday (November 20).

The proposals require owners and superintendents to make a full assessment of their pharmacies before allowing P medicines on open display – looking at potential risks, training and staff views. The GPhC pledged to discuss the draft requirements with individuals and representative bodies over the coming months.

But the proposals did nothing to address fears over pharmacists' ability to intervene in P medicine choices, the RPS and PDA stressed.

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	Expecting employers to heed staff views on self-selection took naivety to "incredible levels", argued PDA chair Mark Koziol. He dismissed the requirements to gain backing from staff before making a decision as " almost [like] getting around a camp fire, singing Kumbaya and living happily ever after".

"That relationship between employee and employer would have to be one that empowers individual pharmacists to make professional decisions in the interests of patients, and that doesn't exist to anything like that extent," he added.

Mr Koziol argued that risk assessments were unlikely to reflect the reality of working in a pharmacy, where staffing levels and working conditions changed from day to day. "Even if you undertook a risk assessment on Monday and that underlined a number of issues, it would be different on Tuesday," he said. "That's rendered completely irrelevant when someone's off ill and a new surgery opens around the corner."

Mr Koziol voiced expectations that the PDA petition against P medicine self-selection, which currently has more than 5,300 signatures, would gain further ground as a result of the "muddled" plans.

The RPS said self-selection would take control away from the pharmacist regardless of the planned safeguards and it voiced fears that the GPhC would pay little attention to the objections. "We are deeply concerned that the GPhC is entering this discussion with its mind already made up," said RPS president Martin Astbury.

"The proposals are likely to place P medicines in the hands of patients before pharmacists are able to make the appropriate assessment," he argued. "The nature of the consultation is likely to change from one where patients are guided to the drug that is most beneficial for them to a conversation where a pharmacist is required to try and retrieve an unsuitable drug from the hands of a patient."