Age Verification for Online Pharmacies

As more and more of our lives transfer online it gets ever more important to check that the services we’re offered are legal and regulated by the appropriate bodies. Online pharmacies are an area that have been giving concern in the last couple of years, with the British Medical Association (BMA) registering their concern that consumers may not be able to discriminate between online pharmacies and other commercial websites.

Pharmacies and pharmacists in the UK are regulated by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPC). British law states that prescriptions from registered EU medical practitioners located in the UK, can be accepted and processed by pharmacists. The prescription of medicines is regulated by the GMC (General Medical Council).

Where Online Pharmacies Fall Below Expectation

In 2017 the Care Quality Commission (CQC) cracked down on 43 online pharmacies that fell below expectation in areas such as:

• Insufficient checks on patients’ identity.
• Poor recording of medical histories.
• Inappropriate medicines being prescribed.
• Inadequate communication with customers’ GPs.

Professor Steve Field, Chief Inspector of General Practice at the Care Quality Commission explained that online pharmacies could not be allowed to compromise patients’ safety: “We expect the same standards of quality and safety to be met as we would see in more traditional GP settings.”

Why is Regulation of Online Pharmacies Important?

The CQC recognises the convenience of online pharmacies, and acknowledges that where they are professionally run they can provide effective treatment. Where medicines are prescribed without due care, however, there is a danger that drugs are sold to young people who don’t use them appropriately or responsibly. For example the CQC found that a large amount of opioid-based medicine was being prescribed without any checks on patients’ history or medical condition.

The MHRA (Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency) maintains a list of registered online retailers of medicine in the UK. The CQC has now required all UK online pharmacies to be registered with the MHRA, and display their logo on every page of their website.

Age Verification for the Purchase of Prescription Medicines

The Royal Pharmaceutical Society counsels that in the absence of any age restrictions on children picking up prescription medicines, it is up to the pharmacist to make a judgement on whether “the child is capable and competent to understand the importance of the medicines they are collecting” and that they are “confident the child will not misuse or tamper with the medicine?”.

The online pharmacy replaces the ‘face-to-face’ encounter with a far looser procedure which involves filling in a form which is then approved by the pharmacy’s doctor. An investigation launched by The Mirror last year found that in some case this would be completed in seconds, suggesting no more than a cursory process of checking. There is no requirement for age verification to be part of this transaction.

AgeChecked for Peace of Mind on Prescription Medicines

As online services proliferate, regulation needs to adapt to the digital environment. Whilst, at one time, pharmacists could be trusted to make a judgement call on the maturity of the recipient of medicine, the ‘virtual’ nature of the online pharmacy removes the potential for such an intervention. A simple amendment, such as the introduction of age verification procedures, could improve both the quality of the service, and enhance the integrity of the transaction.