Unproven alternative medicines recommended by third of Australian pharmacists

Nearly one third of pharmacists are recommending complementary and alternative medicines with little-to-no evidence for their efficacy, including useless homeopathic products and potentially harmful herbal products.

The finding comes from a Choice survey of 240 pharmacies including Priceline, Chemist Warehouse and Terry White. Mystery shoppers were sent in to speak to a pharmacist at the prescription dispensing counter and ask for advice about feeling stressed.

Three per cent of the pharmacists recommended homeopathic products, despite a comprehensive review of all existing studies on homeopathy finding that there is no evidence they work in treating any condition.

Twenty-six percent recommended Bach flower remedies to shoppers, homeopathic solutions of alcohol and water containing diluted flower essences. The solution was invened by a British homeopath, Edward Bach, who claimed to have a psychic connection to plants. A comprehensive review of all existing studies on Bach flower solutions found no difference between the remedies and placebos.

The Choice survey also found products containing a B group vitamin complex were recommended by pharmacists for stress in 46% of cases. Other frequently recommended products were St John’s wort and valerian. There is no good evidence that these products reduce stress.

Fifty-nine per cent of people were just told the complementary and alternative product recommended to them worked, and 24% were told the product was scientifically proven, without any evidence being provided to them, the survey found.

A prominent public health expert and the director of Medreach, Dr Ken Harvey, famously quit his job as an adjunct professor with Victoria’s La Trobe University in 2014 after the university struck a $ 15m, six-year deal with vitamins manufacturer Swisse.

He said the Choice survey demonstrated that some pharmacists were failing in their professional duty to consumers.

“Pharmacists are giving crazy advice, and it is dangerous in some cases,” he said.

“My view is that pharmacists, if they are going to sell these products, need to have a big shining sign over the shelves of the complementary and alternative medicine section that says ‘these products have not been assessed by the government regulators to see if they work, please talk to pharmacist’.

Harvey said it was not uncommon for manufacturers of complementary and alternative medicines to do deals with pharmacists so that when customers filled a script for a prescription medicine, the pharmacist would recommend a “front of shop” product to “complement” the prescription medication.

“Pharamacists are giving poor advice and they clearly have a conflict of interest,” Harvey said.

“There is no doubt about that companies. Vitamin companies come into their stores and stick their products on the shelves and provide the pharmacist with posters and pamphlets, and the pharmacists wash their hands of it. But they’re abdicating their professional responsibilities.”

National president of the Pharmacy Guild, George Tambassis, said people trusted pharmacists, and therefore they had a duty-of-care to be aware of available clinical evidence about the therapeutic and marketing claims made about products sold in their stores.

In a statement, the Guild said it was “essential that consumers have access to objective, informed advice about complementary medicines, and by far the best place to obtain that advice is at a community pharmacy”.

Pharmacology lecturer Ian Musgrave from the University of Adelaide said while he expected shop assistants might not be up to date with the latest evidence for complementary and alternative products, he expected better from pharmacists, who have at least four years of university education.

“I would suggest that we need more education, potentially post-graduate education, on herbals and complementary medicines, especially seeing as now a number of pharmacies have a substantial section with these products,” he said.

Unproven alternative medicines recommended by third of Australian pharmacists

DIY diagnosis of illness is dangerous trend, say pharmacists

People who diagnose their own illnesses by trawling the internet or talking to friends risk damaging their health, pharmacists have warned.

The growing trend of DIY diagnosis could lead to patients receiving the wrong treatment or buying drugs that could harm them, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) said.

“DIY diagnosis can be downright dangerous. You could be missing something a pharmacist or doctor would know was important. While there are good online sites, there’s an awful lot of nonsense out there too,” said Neal Patel, head of corporate communications at the society.

The warning has been prompted by the growing use of online information, symptom checkers and health apps for advice about ailments.

“There are significant risks with self-diagnosis. These include reading misleading information online and thinking you have a different problem to the one you actually have,” the society said.

“This in turn can lead to people buying the wrong over-the-counter medicines, which then fail to treat the problem or even make it worse.”

It is also alarmed by the apparent readiness of people to decide what drugs they need and to use friends’ or relatives’ medication without getting professional medical advice.

In a survey for the society, 43% of respondents admitted they had used painkillers that had not been prescribed to them after they had diagnosed their own condition.

The poll of 2,046 Britons, carried out by YouGov, also found that 78% had sought medical advice from the internet when they wanted to know what was wrong with them. It found that 51% of adults self-diagnosed their ailment when they were feeling unwell or exhibiting symptoms.

“It’s shocking that 43% of those who self-diagnose have borrowed pain relief medication prescribed for someone else to treat their own problem without advice,” Patel said. “These medications can be addictive and cause other serious side-effects.”

Severe pain should always be investigated thoroughly by a doctor, he said.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency advises patients never to share with others drugs they have been prescribed.

It also said people with high blood pressure should be wary about taking Sudafed, an over-the-counter decongestant used by people with a blocked nose or head cold.

The RPS said many patients were not aware that the drug raises blood pressure. High blood pressure is a leading cause of strokes and heart attacks, which account for the second largest number of deaths in the UK.

Zafar Khan, a London-based community pharmacist, said patients commonly asked pharmacists to sell them medication to treat an allergy when in fact they had something more serious wrong with them, such as shingles.

He also said the growing number of people with diabetes should be careful about using sugar-coated tablets.

The Department of Health backed the RPS’s plea for patients to seek advice from a trained health professional rather than the internet or friends.

DIY diagnosis of illness is dangerous trend, say pharmacists

Sore throats to be tested by pharmacists instead of GPs under NHS move

Sore throat sufferers will visit their pharmacist instead of their GP for an on-the-spot test to see if they need antibiotics under a new NHS initiative.

The planned walk-in “sore throat test and treat” service will be rolled out across the country over the next year, after a six-month pilot project. It could help relieve pressure on family doctors and tackle antibiotic resistance, according to NHS England.

The sore throat test and treat service, which was piloted with 35 patients treated at Boots pharmacies, involves taking a swab test with results provided in five minutes to see if a course of antibiotics is needed.

The initiative could save the health service £35m a year and reduce GP consultations by as many as 800,000 if the scheme is taken up nationwide, according to NHS officials. About 1.2 million people visit their GP with sore throat symptoms every year.

The NHS chief executive, Simon Stevens, said the scheme would be rolled out across the country over the course of the coming year and is one of eight medical innovations that will be introduced.

“Necessity is the mother of invention, and health care worldwide is now fizzing with smart innovation,” Stevens said. “In the NHS, we’re now taking practical action to develop and fast-track these new techniques into mainstream patient care.”

The introduction of the new walk-in scheme follows news last month that the Department of Health had drawn up proposals to cut funding for pharmacies by 12% from December. The pharmaceutical services negotiating committee described the cuts as madness, and said they would damage the NHS and social care, the BBC reported.

The initiative is part of the NHS innovation accelerator scheme, designed to help with the adoption of new treatments and technologies.

The programme’s founder, Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s national medical director, said: “With rising demand and escalating costs, innovation is not an option but a necessity if we are to build a sustainable NHS.

“The innovations selected for this programme have the potential to deliver better value for the taxpayer whilst making patient interactions with the NHS safer and more personal.”

Meanwhile, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has urged those eligible for a free flu vaccination to take up the offer.

As part of the national “stay well this winter” campaign, Khan called on people more at risk to prepare for the cold weather.

Children aged between two and seven, adults with chronic health conditions, pregnant women and people over 65 are eligible for a free fluvaccine, according to NHS England.

Claire Ward, the chair of Pharmacy Voice, welcomed the initiative as a means of reducing patient reliance on antibiotics but said the announcement had come at a time when community pharmacies faced “significant cuts”.

“Clearly we’re concerned this would make it difficult for some communities to have access to the healthcare professionals delivering these kinds of services if the cuts result in fewer pharmacists being available.

“Here is the NHS doing what we would expect it to do, but at the same time it is in the context of the pay master – the Department of Health – making significant cuts to community pharmacies.

“We need this type of service to be accessible to all community pharmacies. We are concerned that while on the one hand it is promoting great ideas and visions, on the other it’s taking away the funding that makes community pharmacies viable.”

Sore throats to be tested by pharmacists instead of GPs under NHS move

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists who cannot communicate English will be struck off

The German medical doctor had failed an English test for one particular major care believe in, so simply utilized to operate at yet another.

A new draft bill, published these days by the Law Commission, will enable regulators to bar foreign staff from practising and subject them to language exams. People that fail will be barred from doing work in Britain.

New powers would enable regulators to proactively investigate circumstances of suspected poor perform and practice every time they come to their interest.

At the second, some can only investigate after they have received a formal complaint.

The Bill also makes it possible for regulators to reconsider circumstances that have been closed following a mistake or error, as advisable by the inquiry into the scandal at Mid Staffs.

A approach of revalidation – where experts undergo “MOTs” to ensure they are still match to practise – will be extended from medical professionals to all overall health and social care pros.

Schemes could also be launched to bar unregulated workers from offering providers, according to the Uk-broad suggestions.

The nine organisations, including the Standard Dental Council, General Pharmaceutical Council and Well being Professions Council, are accountable for all around 1.4 million workers across 32 well being and social care roles.

A joint letter signed by the regulators calls on the Government to support the new strategies and asks for “urgent parliamentary consideration” of the Bill.

It said: “The Law Commission was tasked with making a single, streamlined legal structure covering all 9 regulators which would allow us to supply greater protection for individuals, be far more responsive, decrease the burden of regulation and to drive down costs.

“We had been, and remain, committed to these aims. Realising them is crucial if we are to retain the believe in and self-confidence of the public, wellness care experts and the health service in which people pros operate.

“The suggestions of Robert Francis QC following occasions in Mid Staffordshire highlighted the important relevance of powerful regulation targeted on marketing secure, compassionate patient care rather than, as as well often in the past, intervening only after sufferers have suffered harm.”

Doctors, nurses, pharmacists who cannot communicate English will be struck off

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists who can not communicate english will be struck off

The German doctor had failed an English test for one particular main care believe in, so just utilized to perform at one more.

A new draft bill, published today by the Law Commission, will allow regulators to bar foreign workers from practising and topic them to language exams. Those that fail will be barred from working in Britain.

New powers would let regulators to proactively investigate situations of suspected poor carry out and practice each time they come to their consideration.

At the second, some can only investigate when they have acquired a formal complaint.

The Bill also permits regulators to reconsider circumstances that have been closed following a error or error, as recommended by the inquiry into the scandal at Mid Staffs.

A procedure of revalidation – exactly where experts undergo “MOTs” to ensure they are still fit to practise – will be extended from doctors to all overall health and social care pros.

Schemes could also be launched to bar unregulated staff from supplying solutions, in accordance to the United kingdom-wide recommendations.

The 9 organisations, which includes the Standard Dental Council, Common Pharmaceutical Council and Overall health Professions Council, are responsible for close to one.4 million workers across 32 overall health and social care roles.

A joint letter signed by the regulators calls on the Government to help the new programs and asks for “urgent parliamentary consideration” of the Bill.

It stated: “The Law Commission was tasked with generating a single, streamlined legal construction covering all 9 regulators which would enable us to give much better safety for sufferers, be far more responsive, minimize the burden of regulation and to drive down fees.

“We were, and stay, committed to these aims. Realising them is essential if we are to retain the believe in and confidence of the public, wellness care pros and the overall health services in which these pros work.

“The recommendations of Robert Francis QC following events in Mid Staffordshire highlighted the vital importance of efficient regulation centered on advertising risk-free, compassionate patient care rather than, as too often in the previous, intervening only after sufferers have suffered harm.”

Physicians, nurses, pharmacists who can not communicate english will be struck off