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PV welcomes patient choice statement

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PV welcomes patient choice statement

Pharmacy Voice has added its response to the patient choice statement issued last week by the General Pharmaceutical Council, General Medical Council and Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland.

Welcoming the regulators' joint statement, chief executive Rob Darracott said: "It makes clear that pharmacy professionals and doctors have a duty to support informed decision making by patients and ensure that they do not inappropriately influence patients’ choices. We particularly welcome the fact that the statement emphasises that there is a clear process whereby concerns can be referred to the regulators and may result in an investigation if it is deemed that their standards may not have been met by individual health professionals."

Pharmacy Voice has been collecting examples of poor practice and misleading information that undermine choice and seem to lead to the direction of prescriptions to particular pharmacies. It has also been engaging with stakeholders including GPhC and NHS England to reiterate how damaging this can be both for patients and for pharmacy contractors.

“People’s rights to make informed choices about NHS services are enshrined in the NHS Constitution. These principles apply in community pharmacy as in any other setting. Patients should have a free and informed choice to have their prescriptions dispensed in any community pharmacy,” he added.

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