Following up on Richard's recent investigation into pharmacy provision in Biggleswade, last week he took part in the House of Commons committee that approved giving community pharmacies greater flexibility in dispensing medicines.
Richard Fuller MP said:
It’s a small, logical step that is aimed at ensuring patients receive the patient information leaflet (PIL) with their medicines and at reducing the need for pharmacy teams to split boxes and repackage medicines. This will reduce the time pharmacists have to split up and repackage packs of medicines therefore enabling more time to be spent providing clinical support to patients.
Pharmacists will be permitted to dispense up to 10 per cent more or less than has been prescribed in order to dispense medicines in the manufacturer’s original packs, except where this would negatively affect the patient’s clinical treatment regimen.
Introducing the draft regulations, the Minister Maria Caulfield said:
This draft statutory instrument makes two amendments to the Human Medicines Regulations. First, it enables original pack dispensing of medicine when original packaging is required. Secondly, it requires whole-pack dispensing of medicines containing valproate.
The first amendment, under proposed new regulation 217B, will enable the pharmacist to dispense 10% more or less of the medicines compared with the quantity prescribed if they can dispense them with the manufacturer’s original packaging. Dispensing in the manufacturer’s original packaging brings a number of benefits. First, it improves patient safety because original packaging contains clear instructions and information about the medicines. Secondly, it frees up pharmacy time by reducing the amount of time spent splitting packs and counting packs and strips. However, the responsible pharmacist will need to make a judgment as to whether to use this 10% discretion. For example, the flexibility should not be applied to some medicines, such as courses of steroids or antibiotics, and the exact quantity prescribed should be the quantity supplied.
Original pack dispensing will not apply to controlled drugs, where the exact quantity prescribed will continue to need to be dispensed. Nor will it apply where a medicine is already dispensed in a full pack, for example because it is in a form that is not practical to dispense in the exact quantity ordered.
While the flexibility of 10% will not enable all prescriptions to be dispensed in the manufacturer’s original packs, it will deal with the issues of whether a month’s supply is for 28 or 30 days, and with multiples. For example, if a prescription is for 28 days but the pack has 30 tablets, currently the pharmacist has to remove those two extra tablets. The new flexibility will enable the full pack to be supplied and vice versa. The amendments for original pack dispensing will apply across Great Britain and they are enabling, so pharmacists can decide whether to utilise the original pack dispensing with the flexibility of plus or minus 10%.
To read the full legislation, please use this link.
To watch Richard's video on pharmacy provision in Biggleswade, please see his YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/9qQmidWaPWM
