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"Our main concerns are that the use of what they call an asynchronous supply, where the prescriber neither sees nor talks to the patient at the time they issue the prescription, does lay itself open to perhaps people getting hold of medication that they shouldn't," the Head of Policy, PDA said. The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) engages in a critical conversation on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, shedding light on the online prescribing of weight loss drugs and advocating for safer practices. The PDA's spokesperson, Head of Policy Alima Batchelor, emphasised the importance of adhering to professional guidelines to ensure patient safety and mitigate regulatory concerns. During the feature, the PDA highlighted the complexities and risks associated with online supply chains, stressing the necessity for direct clinical consultations and pharmacist involvement in medication management. ""There are guidelines and advice about verification within the DiCE guidance, but it doesn't go quite far enough for us. We are concerned when patients decline to allow the online prescriber to advise their GP of what they're taking," Batchelor highlighted.

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has raised concerns over the rising risks related to online pharmacy services. It revealed over 30 per cent of its open Fitness to Practise (FtP) cases were related to online pharmacy, which is disproportionate to the sector of the market that online services occupy. The regulator has advised pharmacists and pharmacy owners providing online services that they should "not work with online providers who try to circumvent the regulatory oversight put in place within the UK to ensure patient safety". In the past five months, the Council has imposed seven interim orders on the registration of pharmacists who have worked for or with online prescribing services - after identifying serious concerns with their practice. It said: "These pharmacists were working as pharmacist independent prescribers for online services or were dispensing medicines prescribed online. Some of these pharmacists were the Responsible Pharmacist (RP) or the Superintendent Pharmacist (SP)."

The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) today decided to convene a new group, involving all the key stakeholders, focused on assurance of practice post-registration. The decision in today's (9 December) council meeting follows the recommendation of a working group chaired by council member and pharmacist Aamer Safdar on the role of the regulator in post-registration education and training. The new group will be tasked with articulating a set of guiding principles where patient safety is the overarching priority, after carrying out a horizon scanning exercise to pull together an understanding of the system wide approach currently in place. The working group noted that the wider approach, in relation to regulation of post-registration practice and not simply education and training, may require the GPhC reviewing and developing its own control measures, and involving patients and the public in the next stages of work. Reviewing the work on online pharmacy services, the council meeting supported the regulator's plans to continue to require pharmacy websites to be arranged so that a person cannot choose a prescription only medicine and its quantity before there has been an appropriate consultation with a prescriber.