Covid-19: Allow pharmacists to dispense controlled drugs without prescription, urge specialists

Revised legislation allowing pharmacists to supply some controlled drugs without prescription must be enacted “without delay” to protect patients and to support clinicians, experts have said.

Last week (28 April) the UK home secretary, Priti Patel, laid legislation before parliament that allows for a relaxation of the regulations for prescribing controlled drugs, to ensure access is not delayed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The relaxation would allow pharmacists, in a pandemic situation, to supply some drugs that were previously only supplied to a patient by doctors on prescription. It would also allow pharmacists, in cases of shortages, to alter dosages or substitute drugs without having to go back to the prescribing doctor to seek a new prescription.

But the changes can be triggered only with the express permission of the home secretary, who has so far not given this despite the legislation being tabled to be used in situations of crisis.

Ian Hamilton, an academic at the University of York with an interest in addiction and mental health, who coordinated the letter, told The BMJ that although it was positive that the home secretary laid the legislation before parliament, it needed to be activated now.

He said, “Each day there’s a delay our concern is that the potential for suffering just goes on.”

“The problem with this is that if somebody is in a lot of pain and they’re really severely short of breath, that in itself is problematic because it can trigger a cardiac arrest. A worst case scenario is that someone could actually die because of a two or three hour delay in getting morphine. So this is something that I think is essential for healthcare workers to have.”

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Source: The BMJ, 7 March 2020