The GPhC has made comments that ‘Pharmacists working in Online settings have forgotten what they learned in community’. This comment has come on the back of a huge rise in the number of online pharmacies opening over the last few years and the risk of patient safety from these pharmacies rising. The GPhC director of fitness to practice has commented to the Pharmacy Network News that pharmacy professionals when working across different sectors, don’t necessarily apply the same standards across the board. It seems there is a more relaxed approach when working in an online pharmacy. I believe this to be ironic as the risk is much greater in an online setting than it is in a face-to-face community setting, so how can some pharmacists be so relaxed?
There are on-going issues in the online pharmacy sector where similar failings are seen across many of the online pharmacies, in particular regards to poor prescribing practices. Some of these issues include pharmacists prescribing out with their scope of practice, over prescribing and little or no follow ups done for patients getting long term supplies of medication.
Furthermore, there are concerns that pharmacists are reluctant to stop and raise concerns when they witness poor and unsafe practices by their pharmacy employers. Would they be the same way inclined if they witnessed unsafe practice in community pharmacy? I believe they would certainly feel more confident to report. From my own experience I also believe it isn’t just a reluctance that stops pharmacists raising concerns, it’s also the lack of confidence in the GPhC to really hold accountable to those practicing unsafely. Many online pharmacies have ‘met the standards’ but when you look deeper there are many signs that these online pharmacies are not practising in a professional and safe manner. GPhC have their work cut out for them for sure in the online pharmacy sector as there are a huge amount of unsafe online pharmacies and perhaps not enough resource to handle the poor practices that are happening. Furthermore, I definitely believe the poor practice comes due to lack of training and support in this industry. Unfortunately, the support and training haven’t caught up with the exponential growth of the online pharmacy sector. If you are looking to improve your online pharmacy business, do check out the training course for Online Pharmacy at PCL.