"Prescription drugs sold online without robust checks"

[ChrisColumbus]

Investigation may mean more UK controls on online pharmacies

bbc.co.uk/news/health-67714023

[SueJohnson]

Amazing! In the US you have to have a prescription from your doctor to buy anywhere. And one on Medicare enrolls in one program which might have an associated online pharmacy. I also buy online a couple of drugs from Canada because they are way cheaper, but they require a doctor's prescription too. How can a pharmacy sell a drug without a prescription. They should be shut down and prosecuted.

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to SueJohnson]

Sue. my life depends on the thyroid hormones I buy from an online pharmacy. It is very frightening for the thousands of us who cannot get treatment because thyroid care is so appalling in this country to imagine furthur restrictions. Unless the whole of the medical profession is retrained the services provided by the pharmacys are desperately needed.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Hectorsmum2]

From a UK perspective: online pharmacies provide a valuable service. However *some* are clearly providing potentially dangerous prescription drugs in quantity in an irresponsible manner.

I'm sure that the service that you are using is efficient, responsible and follows current guidelines from the GPhC in full and would have no difficulty in meeting any new guidelines that they or the Home Office introduce.

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to ChrisColumbus]

I cannot get a prescription. I have a genetic condition that needs treatment that I cannot get in the uk. If regulations insist upon a prescription I am in trouble.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Hectorsmum2]

I'm very sorry that you can't get a thyroid prescription from your own GP for whatever reason: no doubt you've raised this specific problem on the Thyroid UK forum?

A UK licensed online pharmacy must employ a qualified pharmacist prescriber who can make a decision based on medical history and need and issue an appropriate prescription. Some UK licensed online pharmacies do not fully comply with this, and they will have difficulty if the guidelines are enforced and /or strengthened.

This could present a dilemma. There are of course unlicensed suppliers based both here and overseas, which is how - for example - other RLS UK forum members acquire kratom. This is by no means an ideal solution I know!

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to ChrisColumbus]

Yes lots of us in the thyroid UK forum are in the same boat. There are also lots us on the pernicious anaemia forum who source our B12 injections from abroad . Crazy that we cant buy something so harmless over the counter in UK. There have been dozens of petitions re these issues and the access to T3 thyroid hormone has been debated in Scottish parliament but it has got harder not easier to get the prescriptions we need.

[ChrisColumbus in reply to Hectorsmum2]

On a related point we've just been discussing on another thread the inconsistencies across the NHS in getting various medications prescribed off-licence: with some meds in some areas one might need a consultant psychiatrist or neurologist to prescribe rather than a GP, in others it's just a NO.

[Hectorsmum2 in reply to ChrisColumbus]

The NHS is in such a mess. I try to avoid as much as I can. With the thyroid hormones I take it has to be prescribed by a consultant. The consultants in Bristol will not prescribe.