This site is intended for health professionals only


GPs vote to stop prescribing OTC medicines

GPs should stop prescribing all over-the-counter medications, according to a poll of delegates at the Pulse Live conference in London today.

GPs attending the Great GP Debate heard arguments for and against the motion that OTC medicines should not be prescribed at primary care level but should instead be bought by patients from pharmacies and other vendors.

A show of hands vote showed that more than 65% of the delegates agreed with that GPs should stop prescribing all OTC medicines, with around 15% saying that they believed GPs should retain the power to prescribe these medicines. A number of delegates remained undecided.

Arguing for GPs to stop prescribing medicines like paracetamol and cough medicine, Dr Shaba Nabi, a Bristol GP and Pulse columnist, said not only could NHS no longer sustain the cost of prescribing these items, it could also harm patients’ ability to self care,

She said: ‘Free prescriptions shackle patients and prevent them taking responsibility for their own health, by infantilising by dishing out free medicines to the public in this way we are actually harming them.

‘We all know that minor ailments get better by themselves, you don’t necessarily need any treatment but if a patient wants to buy cough medicine or sudafed then it is up to them to pay for it.’

Arguing against a suggestion poorer patients might not be able to afford OTC medication, Dr Nabi said: ‘We are not living in a war zone in a third world country. I am a little tired of this patronising attitude towards the poor because it has left us with a society of very entitled patients who have got learned helplessness.

‘We don’t provide free nappies, free toothpaste or free shampoo. All of these items are necessary but somehow we are expected to provide free paracetamol and it’s a lot cheaper than some of the other items i have mentioned.

‘It should be a stock in your bathroom cabinet. If we stop prescribing these items it would increase competition with the retail outlets and drive down costs.’

Dr Martin Duerden, a GP in Wales and RCGP clinical prescribing adviser argued that restricting the prescriptions of OTC medicines was not the way forward.

He said: ‘There are some conditions where actually buying things to treat your condition are more expensive than getting a prescription from the GP. I would find it very difficult if i was seeing a patient with that particular condition and say ‘oh you can go and buy this stuff’ when I know I can issue a prescription for free.

‘OTC medicines are made on the basis of a drug company seeing an opportunity to make some profit, as well as helping patients. The whole designation system based on a notion of safety.

‘Whether you can purchase a product from a pharmacist or a general sales list of a supermarket or somewhere like that is actually based on an assessment of whether it is safe to enable provision of that medicine in that way. It’s not based on whether it is a good thing that the patient can manage themselves for this particular condition.’

He added that the argument for patient autonomy and self care could be pushed too far, but it was good practice to keep minor conditions away from the surgery.

He said: ‘I see the role of the pharmacist as being really fundamental to helping support that process but I don’t think that restricting the use of OTC medicines within an individual practice is the way forward.’

Dr Nabi concluded that whatever moves were made regarding GPs prescribing OTC medicines, it should be rolled out on a national level.

She said: ‘There is no doubt in my mind that this should be national legislation. Until the Government legislates on this GPs are running scared of being in breach of contract.’


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.