While the government has pushed hard for cuts to community pharmacy it has strongly advocated online services as a panacea for NHS cash woes.
Now UK's largest online pharmacy Pharmacy2U is in the news again. This time it is for questionable marketing practices.
In 2015 the company was fined £130,000 by the Government’s data protection watchdog for selling the names and addresses of more than 21,000 patients without their consent. The beneficiary of the company's “inconceivable” breach of Data Protection Act, as described by the watchdog Care Quality Commission (CQC), was an Australian lottery company.
In April 2017 the Telegraph revealed that Pharmacy2U was offering a product called Air Oxy containing sodium chlorite, which can cause excruciating pain, vomiting and breathing problems.
In July this year the Care Quality Commission labeled the company as unsafe, not well led and ineffective.
It has now been reported that the company stands accused of 'bombarding' patients with unsolicited marketing information which patients, potentially, can confuse for information from the NHS. The Sunday Telegraph in its recent edition has reported that several patients have signed up to the online pharmacy's repeat prescription service mistaking it for a service offered by their local GP surgery or high street pharmacy. As a result, patients' longstanding prescription arrangements with their local surgeries are automatically cancelled. The aggressive marketing campaign by the pharmacy is reportedly a nationwide one, meaning the damage done is extensive and requires urgent intervention from government authorities.
Ian Strachan, Chairman of the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and owner of Strachans Chemist, a small group of pharmacies in North West England said: "Pharmacy2U are currently marketing to an unprecedented scale. The biggest concern is that such marketing is leading patients into believing it is in some way associated with their GP or local pharmacy. Many patients are waking up to the realisation that this operation is not associated with their local pharmacy or local NHS. The confusion and panic that is left in its wake is alarming. Online medicines suppliers are in no way equivalent to your local pharmacies, where you can get face to face advice without an appointment, plus access to a range of NHS services.”
Recently private online GP service Push Doctor was found to be delivering unsafe care in a damning report by the health and social care regulatory authority.
In March 2017 the Care Quality Commission warned people to act with caution when buying medicines on the internet.
CQC’s inspections of some companies that provide online primary care have found significant concerns about patient safety.
In March 2017 a CQC statement read: “Technological advances have brought opportunities to deliver healthcare in new ways, including online primary medical services. Potentially, this innovation allows patients easier access to care and treatment when they need it.” While this might sound like music to some, patients at the wrong end of the stick may finds this claim somewhat hollow or even bizarre.
It seems it might be quite some time before the negative impact of the pharmacy funding cuts die down and the benefits of the much touted click-and-collect services really kick in.
