Important Notice for Patients and Private Providers
Many UK practices are being approached by private providers to review patients' notes to ensure the safety of prescribing drugs such as cannabinoids and GLP-1 agonists. This attempts to shift the responsibility for prescribing initiated by other organisations onto the practice.
General Practice is currently under extreme pressure and cannot take on unfunded, non-contractual work for external providers. Given the existing workload, there is no guarantee that such reviews could be completed within the requested timeframe.
According to GMC regulations, it is the responsibility of the prescribing clinician to ensure their prescribing is safe[1]. This includes taking an adequate history, examining the patient, and conducting any necessary pre-prescribing investigations. NICE guidelines also require patient examinations, including accurate weight measurements at initial assessment and regular reviews[2]. The General Pharmaceutical Council [3] expects similar professional behaviour.
Private providers should not expect NHS GPs to perform this private work. NHS practice appointments should not be requested to record or verify monitoring information. Non-response from a GP should not be interpreted as agreement that there are no contraindications to prescribing medications.
Patients are encouraged to request a summary sheet of their current medications and major diagnoses, to share with the provider. Alternatively, a medical report may be commissioned and released upon payment of our fee.
Thank you for your understanding.
References
[1] Good practice in proposing, prescribing, providing and managing ... - GMC
[2] Medicines optimisation: the safe and effective use of medicines ... - NICE (EXTERNAL PDF LINK)
[3] Standards for pharmacy professionals | General Pharmaceutical Council