Professional Guidance Needed For EU Prescriptions Dispensed In The UK

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 03 Oct 2007 - 1:00 PDT

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The NPA agrees in principle that there is a need to amend existing national legislation to comply with European law in order to allow pharmacists the freedom to make a professional judgement to decide whether or not to dispense a prescription originating from another EU state. This will clarify the legal position and remove the legal barriers and associated consequences with dispensing prescriptions from another EU state or Switzerland.

Michelle Styles NPA Head of Information said: "The NPA feel strongly that any official guidance needs to be highly detailed and comprehensive. It is important that there is a particular focus on the practical aspect of what should be done when presented with an EU prescription. It is particularly worrying that most EU states do not have a registration system. In light of this it is vital that the guidance explains what a pharmacist can do to in order to exercise their professional judgement when there can be no way of ensuring that the prescription originates from a legitimate prescriber."

Michelle adds: "In addition, prescriptions from other EU countries are likely to be for products licensed in that country but which may not have a UK marketing authorisation. As a result it is important for amendments to be made to explicitly allow pharmacists to make the decision to supply or not to supply when a product does not have UK authorisation."

http://www.npa.co.uk