The government has claimed it will propose legislation to provide a more extensive range of healthcare experts in the NHS to appoint “low-risk” medications. Currently, there is a huge fraud boom has appeared in the UK, therefore, the Queen has claimed to act rashly and promptly to eradicate the problem itself. However, not all the medication experts do agree with Her Majesty! Some professionals are afraid that in the nearest future, the prices for the drugs can sharply grow because of such an unexpected decision. Who is right and who is mistaken, let us consider in the following article.
Newcomers Are Here
The introduced legislation was introduced in the 2019 Queen’s Speech, released on 14 October 2019, and government briefing notes on the speech which maintain a current Medicines and Medical Devices Bill would allow the “government to develop the variety of professions able to designate low-risk drugs to make the most efficient management of the NHS workforce”.
It will also enable the development of “more innovative ways of dispensing medicines, were recommended by scientific experts,” the government said.
The advanced innovative bill would “enlarge and apply to the whole of the UK,” regarding the notes. Nevertheless, managers in the Welsh pharmacy sector have already requested for every pharmacy in Wales to exercise an independent pharmacy prescriber by 2030 as part of its long-term plan for the profession.
Reflecting on the introduced legislation, Sandra Gidley, president at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, has recorded that there “is already a rather wide spectrum of health professionals who might prescribe.”
“Rather than developing lesser forms to other people, it would seem to me to make much more reason to think about why some people aren’t becoming prescribers at the moment and what the barriers of that might be,” she appointed.
“I’m not quite certain what obstacle they’re trying to resolve.”
A Bit Different Opinion
The ‘Community pharmacy contractual structure for 2019/2020 to 2023/2024’, published in July 2019, committed to pursuing legislative changes that would “provide all pharmacies with interest from more effective hub-and-spoke dispensing” as well as performing “greater use of primary pack distributing.”
The introduced new bill would also perform “a scheme to battle false drugs entering supply chains and a certification scheme for online marketers,” the government claimed.
Stores in the UK currently have entrance to the Falsified Medicines Directive database, which alerts pharmacologists to forged medicines in the supply chain. Yet, the UK will no longer have an introduction to the database if the UK leaves the EU with no deal in place.
To Sum Up
Also included in the proposed bill would be a new registration scheme for online pharmacies.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency currently challenges online merchants of global sales lists, prescription-only medicines, or pharmacy medicines to register for a ‘Distance Selling Logo’ “to help members of the public to recognize websites that can lawfully sell medicines.”
The Pharmaceutical Journal has approached the Department of Health and Social Care for an explanation. Still, we are waiting for further information, so keep being informed!
