Display of P medicines

 

Pharmacy medicines are an invaluable resource available to community pharmacy in assisting patients to take greater control of their health. Recent (and proposed) POM to P switches have strengthened this portfolio of products and have increased the scope of self care treatments available. It is vital that the public are made aware of the range of conditions that can be treated through the pharmacy (and the specific range of medicines that can only be obtained in a pharmacy) and that they are properly advised and supported.

Looking at the P category of medicines, the CCA has identified four principal public safety reasons for maintaining products with this classification:

  1. It is necessary to establish that a medicine is appropriate for an individual in the circumstances they describe
  2. A patient may require additional information over and above that provided in the patient information leaflet
  3. Access needs to be limited to prevent abuse and/or harm
  4. Additional supervision is required following reclassification from POM to ensure that the safety profile is monitored.

It is in the interest of the patient, the profession and the NHS that access to effective medicines through community pharmacy should be promoted and facilitated, while maintaining the safeguards already identified. It is important to allow experimentation into how this might be achieved in different circumstances, for example, to allow patients to handle examples of the products that they may subsequently wish to purchase.

However, we are concerned that "self-selection" implies that a pharmacist (or suitably trained pharmacy assistant) may not have been in a position to intervene in a sale. We believe it is essential that, whatever option is chosen, medicines are sold in a way that will ensure that they are used appropriately, safely and effectively, and this means that whatever mechanism is used, it ensures that the patient or consumer can be offered additional advice or, in particular circumstances, be prevented from purchasing an inappropriate product.

Limiting access by preventing self-selection may be a simple, low-tech way of ensuring that pharmacists are in a position to intervene and that patients can be protected, and in many circumstances for many pharmacists and pharmacies, this may be the only practical way in which this can be achieved. However, we believe that the Society’s guidance should not be so prescriptive as to prevent other mechanisms being explored that may deliver benefits to patients and consumers in terms of access and information, while maintaining the public safety benefits identified above.