Conservative MP for Reigate Rebecca Paul this week (March 18) stressed that pharmacists must be taken into consideration when debating the assisted dying bill – formally known as the terminally ill adults (end of life) bill.
Speaking at a debate on the bill, Paul said that the government must “ensure that pharmacists can do their jobs in line with the regulations and laws they are subject to”.
She admitted that thus far, the role of pharmacists in this bill has not been discussed enough.
Read more: MPs discuss state-wide pharmacy ‘assisted dying drugs’ service
“We have probably not spoken enough to date about the impact on pharmacists, but we are getting to the point in the bill where it is really important that we take on board written evidence and feedback that we are hearing from them,” she said.
She cited a Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) statement that “in dispensing a prescription, a pharmacist assumes a proportion of the responsibility for that prescription and therefore must be assured that all legal requirements are in place and that it is entirely appropriate for the patient”.
“Approved substance”
Much of the debate also centred on the “approved substance” that would be used for ending someone’s life if the bill were to be passed, with Conservative MP for East Wiltshire Danny Kruger saying that “the regulations need to specify...what drugs may be approved”.
“We have evidence from...[pharmacists] to suggest that the approved substances would not legally come within the definition of a ‘medicinal product’ so medicines law, the protections associated with medicines and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) licensing process might not apply,” he said.
Read more: Pharmacists must not ‘directly engage’ patients in assisted dying debate
C+D understands that if the approved substance is not a medicinal product, pharmacists may not have a legal way of selling or supplying it and might therefore commit a criminal offence doing so.
This could also open pharmacists up to potential clinical negligence claims and means none of the law relating to medicinal products would apply, such as the requirement for a marketing authorisation and supervision requirements.
Read more: Assisted dying bill reveals pharmacy tech role and opt-out clause
It comes after MPs discussed a “centralised” assisted dying pharmacy service in January as Australian clinicians spoke about their country’s “state-wide pharmacy service that delivers assisted dying drugs”.
Meanwhile in November, the UK chief pharmaceutical officers (CPhOs) set boundaries around pharmacist involvement in the assisted dying debate, amid calls for a “clear” role for pharmacists in the Scottish assisted dying bill.
They warned at the time that “there are some obvious things that should be avoided”, including “directly engaging patients in debate”.
