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The Pharmacists’ Defence Association (PDA) has said its most recent survey on the self-selection of pharmacy medicines has revealed a large majority of pharmacists are against it.

The PDA said 94 per cent of almost 600 pharmacists who took part opposed self-selection because of “serious risks to patient safety and reduced professional oversight”.

It said 98 per cent were concerned about inappropriate medicine selection, 92 per cent were worried about reduced pharmacist oversight, 80 per cent were concerned about the risk of theft or misuse and 77 per cent highlighted concerns around commercial pressures.

The PDA also said 79 per cent were very concerned about risks to patient safety and 73 per cent were very concerned about pharmacist safety because of “increased potential for conflict”.

Eighty-one per cent thought proposed supervision changes could compromise safe supply while 95 per cent said any changes “must follow full consultation with the profession”.

The PDA said respondents wanted to see safeguards put in place to mitigate the risks of self-selection, including mandatory training for staff, clear escalation protocols, pharmacist oversight, restrictions to low-risk medicines and regular audits.

“These findings highlight the profession’s strong desire to protect patient safety and maintain the integrity of pharmacist-led care, and that more thought and consultation is needed before significant changes in practice are allowed to be introduced,” it said.

The PDA used the results of the survey to criticise the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for announcing in July this year that it supported “the adoption of models that enable the facilitated self-selection of pharmacy medicines, where a community pharmacy chooses to implement such models”, having previously opposed the measure.

The PDA said 43 per cent of responses to its survey were from RPS members, 82 per cent of whom, the PDA insisted, do not support allowing self-selection. Independent Community Pharmacist has contacted the RPS for a response.

In June last year, the General Pharmaceutical Council said it no longer prohibited self-selection, insisting the language previously used to describe it “such as ‘open display’ has not always been helpful”, given it implied pharmacists and pharmacy teams “would not be involved in the selection and supply of pharmacy medicines”.

The GPhC said the term “facilitated self-selection” was “more helpful as it emphasises the crucial roles of the pharmacy team in facilitating the supply of the medicine to the person and of the pharmacist in supervising the supply”.

The survey’s findings echo the results of a PDA survey in July 2024 which found 93 per cent were against self-selection for various reasons, including difficulties supervising it, the risk that patients could select medicines inappropriately and the likelihood a pharmacist would be subjected to violence from a patient if they refused to sell a self-selected pharmacy medicine.