A GP should not hinder a patient’s choice of an online pharmacy by not forwarding prescriptions to the online pharmacy. It is precisely in this time of Corona that this occurs regularly, despite the fact that the home delivery of medicines and the request for repeat prescriptions by an online pharmacy can be urgently desired for the patient. The Dutch Healthcare Authority (NZa) has confirmed this and published it in a news item on November 13, 2020.
Free to choose an online pharmacy
Pharmacy eFarma – a Dutch online pharmacy – has also raised this issue with the NZa. Refusing doctors to forward prescriptions poses a risk to the patient, while – and not everyone is aware of this – all patients are free to choose an online pharmacy if the local pharmacy for one reason or another is not like it.
When the general practitioner does not cooperate, for example because he or she says he only wants to work with the local pharmacy, or in a broader sense, “does not think an online pharmacy is a good idea”, patients will get no appeal. Without prescriptions sent, the online pharmacy cannot provide medicines, so these patients have to go back to the local pharmacy, where they did not want to go anymore.
On 13 November, the NZa published a news item on its website under the telling title: “NZa: Patients should not be hindered in choosing digital pharmacy”. This publication by the NZa is not the first on this subject, as in 2013 this was already a reason for the NZa to take enforcement action at a general practice. The Consumers’ Association also published an article in the Consumer Guide in May 2016 about the experiences of patients who had opted for an online pharmacy (“Pills by post – not everyone is happy with it”).
This publication is an important boost for patients who have problems switching to an online pharmacy. The patient is in his right, and that is what the NZa stands up for. Pharmacy eFarma also welcomes the ruling. After all, it is always very difficult for the pharmacy assistants at eFarma to convince an unruly GP to cooperate. This publication of the NZa will help with this.
More about pharmacy eFarma
eFarma is a Dutch pharmacy with a rural working area ( https://www.efarma.nl ) and a full range. eFarma was founded in 2003 by the Amsterdam pharmacist Hok Tjiook and is located in Beverwijk. eFarma focuses primarily on the provision of medication to chronic patients with plannable repeat medication, whereby eFarma requests repeat prescriptions for the patient from the GP. How this service is valued can be seen, for example, on Zorgkaart (a review site for healthcare), where eFarma has been doing very well for years. eFarma is registered in the Dutch pharmacy register of the Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ), and is therefore subject to the same supervision as all pharmacies in the Netherlands.
Source: Pharmacy efarma
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