HSSIB calls for online prescribers to access patient records
The Health Services Safety Investigations Body has warned that patients using online prescribing services may be at risk of harm because clinicians treating them lack access to their full medical records. The report urges action to close that information gap.
What happened
HSSIB published a report calling for online prescribers to be given access to patient records held by NHS systems. The concern centres on clinicians working outside traditional NHS structures — typically through private digital health platforms — who prescribe without being able to see a patient's GP record, current medication list, or relevant medical history. Without that information, prescribing decisions are made on incomplete data.
The investigation body concluded that patients in this setting may be exposed to avoidable harm, including drug interactions that a prescriber with full record access would have identified and acted on.
Why it matters
Online prescribing has grown sharply over recent years. Private platforms now offer consultations and prescriptions for everything from weight-loss medicines to contraception and mental health drugs, often within minutes of a patient completing an online questionnaire. The speed and convenience are real, but so is the clinical risk when a prescriber has no sight of what else a patient is taking or what conditions they already carry.
Pharmacists sit at the end of that chain. When a prescription generated by an online platform arrives at a community pharmacy — whether as a paper private prescription or through an online pharmacy's own dispensing process — the dispensing pharmacist may be the last clinical check before the patient receives the medicine. If the prescriber missed a contraindication because they had no access to the patient's records, the pharmacist's clinical screening is the safety net.
That's a significant responsibility. It's also a reminder that the pharmacist's role isn't just to dispense accurately — it's to catch what others may have missed.
GPhC exam relevance
The GPhC Common Registration Assessment tests clinical decision-making, and drug interactions and contraindications feature regularly. Scenarios involving private or online prescriptions are fair game. The exam doesn't restrict itself to NHS settings, and candidates should be comfortable applying the same clinical standards regardless of where a prescription originates.
The broader principle here maps directly to the GPhC's standards for pharmacy professionals: you must make the care of patients your first priority, and you must use your professional judgement. A prescription from an online service doesn't reduce that duty. If anything, it increases the need for independent clinical thinking at the point of dispensing.
Knowing when to query a prescription, when to contact the prescriber, and when to refuse to dispense are all skills the assessment tests. The HSSIB report reinforces why those skills matter in practice.
What's next
Watch for any government or NHS England response to the HSSIB recommendations. If formal guidance follows — requiring online prescribing platforms to integrate with NHS record systems, or tightening the standards applied to private prescribers — that could affect how pharmacies handle prescriptions from these services day to day.
In the meantime, if you're on placement or beginning your foundation year, pay attention to how your pharmacy handles private and online prescriptions. Ask your supervisor what checks are applied, how the pharmacy contacts prescribers when queries arise, and whether the pharmacy has a standard operating procedure for this scenario. It's the kind of practical knowledge that bridges the gap between what the assessment tests and what you'll face in practice.
Source: Chemist+Druggist — https://www.chemistanddruggist.co.uk/news/clinical/give-online-prescribers-access-to-patient-records-urges-report-CDEVVQWDUJCITPCQDIJN54UQJE/