The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) yesterday (April 9) wrote to pharmacy staff and owners to “raise awareness of some emerging issues” occurring in community pharmacies across the UK.
Following concerns being raised about pharmacies supplying “non-medicinal unregulated products” and providing “alternative therapy services”, among other things, the regulator urged pharmacy workers to “ensure patients and the public receive safe and effective care”.
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In an email from GPhC chief pharmacy officer Roz Gittins, the regulator expressed worries about reports of “non-medicinal, unregulated, unlicensed products” being sold in community pharmacies.
In particular, concerns were raised about “‘Lemon Bottle’ and other products used for non-surgical cosmetic procedures being supplied by community pharmacies or...administered by pharmacists via injections in other settings”.
“Serious harm”
“Where products are not licensed as medicinal products or medical devices by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), they are not required to meet good manufacturing practice, including safety, quality and efficacy standards,” Gittins warned.
“We have received concerns suggesting these products have potentially caused serious harm,” Gittins said, adding that there are worries “such products do not disclose the full ingredients or sufficient information about their contents, and [that] there is limited or no clinical safety data available”.
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If pharmacies do decide to offer these products, it is their responsibility to “[seek] assurances from the supplier and...[to complete] their own due diligence” that the products are safe, the regulator stressed.
And it is also “the responsibility of the pharmacy owner to ensure that if they decide to stock unlicensed, unregulated products of this nature, that there are no medicinal claims made on the packaging or promotional material for those products,” it added.
“Alternative therapy”
The GPhC also warned that it was “aware of a small number of community pharmacies providing complementary or alternative therapy services such as acupuncture and cupping to patients and the public”.
It stressed that pharmacy owners, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians should “ensure that they have the necessary knowledge, skills, training and indemnity cover to provide these services, and that they can provide these services in an appropriate environment”.
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Pharmacies must not “make any unsubstantial claims” about these services, Gittens wrote, adding that patients should be “fully informed of the potential benefits, risks and limitations of a complementary or alternative therapy”.
According to the letter, the GPhC has also “recently taken statutory enforcement action against some registered pharmacies supplying medicines that have been prescribed by prescribers working for unregulated online platforms”.
“Unregulated online platforms”
“In these cases, the pharmacies have not carried out the necessary due diligence or appropriate risk assessment about working with these unregulated online platforms, which are often based outside of the UK,” it explained.
Gittins stressed that GPhC guidance advises pharmacy owners and superintendent pharmacists to “not work with online providers who avoid, or try to avoid, keeping to the regulatory system put in place within the UK to ensure patient safety throughout the healthcare system”.
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It comes after the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) issued a warning in May about the “growing phenomenon” of online pharmacies.
“The online sale of medicines and medical devices” offers “convenience, anonymity and lower prices for consumers in search of, for example, cheap diet pills and cosmetic products,” it said at the time, but warned that “it also poses significant risks” as “many online pharmacies are unregulated, illegal or fraudulent”.
