PROFESSIONAL indemnity insurer, Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL), is warning pharmacists to be wary of forged prescriptions being presented.
In a practice alert released last week, PDL said it was continuing to see notifications involving forged scripts and urged pharmacists "of the need to be vigilant when assessing the validity of prescriptions".
PDL noted that falsified prescriptions often have multiple "red flags", such as the patient or prescriber are from outside the local area, the prescription has not been recorded on a real-time prescription monitoring system, and/or the patient or prescriber have called in advance to check if the medication is in stock.
The insurer has recommended that pharmacists should contact the prescriber if they have doubts over the validity of a script, and check recent communications from authorities.
PDL stressed that pharmacists need to be aware that "sophisticated forgeries often have valid Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Authority Approvals", and that they should "not use the existence of a valid PBS Authority Approval as a way of verifying a prescription".
To avoid falling for a forged script, PDL has recommended that they should encourage the use of electronic prescriptions, which are more secure than paper.
The insurer said that electronic prescriptions for high-risk medications must still be verified with the prescriber if they are unknown to the pharmacist.
PDL added that pharmacists who detect forged scripts are required to report them to state health departments and the police as soon as possible.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 27 Sep 22
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 27 Sep 22
