Online pharmacies could seriously damage your health
- Online pharmacy Doctor Matt Ltd gave out a prescription within seconds
- White Pharmacy has been prescribing opioid-based painkillers without checking patient suitability, putting them at risk of vomiting, drowsiness and constipation
- Frost Pharmacy may have given inhalers to non-asthma sufferers
- i-GP has been told it must better check-up on their patients’ identities
- The Care Quality Commission is inspecting over 40 online health services
Alexandra Thompson Health Reporter For Mailonline
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Websites selling prescription medicines may seriously harm patient safety.
Popular web-based prescriber Doctor Matt Ltd spent just 17 seconds assessing a patient.
While White Pharmacy Ltd has been prescribing a ‘high volume’ of opioid-based painkillers without properly checking patients’ histories, putting them at risk of vomiting, drowsiness and constipation.
It also turns out the online service Frosts Pharmacy Ltd has been issuing inhalers to asthma sufferers without confirming their diagnosis, which may cause headache, hand tremors and even heart palpitations.
The virtual pharmacy i-GP Ltd has been told they must better identify their patients’ history.
Online pharmacies may pose a serious risk to patient safety, with one assessing a patient in just 17 seconds and another prescribing inhalers without checking for an asthma diagnosis
Other slip-ups include poor communication with patients’ GPs and not referring those needing an in-person assessment.
Doctor Matt has since been suspended for six months, while White Pharmacy has been restricted on its opioid-based painkiller prescriptions.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted the investigation and is inspecting over 40 online prescription services registered in England.
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Professor Steve Field, chief inspector of general practice, CQC, said: ‘We expect the same standards of quality and safety to be met as we would see in more traditional GP settings, this is exactly what people deserve.
‘Online companies, and the people working for them, have a duty to protect the people seeking their support.
‘They must follow relevant guidance and best practice to make sure that they know who they are communicating with, how medicines fit in with their medical history, and that their GP is made aware of any prescribing decisions.’
Web-based pharmacies are failing to refer patients needing an in-person assessment
Angus Wrixon, a spokesman for Doctor Matt, said patient safety had ‘always been our priority’, the BBC reported.
He said: ‘Interactions may last only a few seconds, for example, when a known customer is requesting a repeat prescription, as is the case in many normal GP consultations.’
Stuart Gale, owner and chief pharmacist at Oxford Online Pharmacy, which is run by Frosts, said: ‘We have responded immediately, even suspending our asthma inhaler service for the time being so that we can ensure we are operating to the highest standards.’
Frosts Pharmacy and i-GP declined the BBC’s request to comment.
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