Up until the recent years, the traditional and legal way for patients to receive their medications was to personally visit a pharmacy with a valid local prescription or from a medical clinic after consultation. This allows the doctor or pharmacist to evaluate face-to-face the medication needs of the customer, provide medication counselling and dispense medications to the patients or their caregivers directly. With technological advancement, an increasingly tech-savvy population and national’s direction towards aging-in-place, pharmacies and medical clinics inevitably have to change the way their services are provided. The new Healthcare Services Act and Health Products Act removed legal restrictions to pave the way for innovative healthcare services and last mile delivery of medications. Today, patients can conveniently opt to receive their medication through dispensing kiosks, secured lockers or at the convenience of their homes, offices or other accessible locations, triggered either via a phone call or online request.
How can we then ensure that the quality of medications delivered is maintained so that it is safe and effective for use in treatment when it reaches the right patients? How do we make sure that patients and/or their caregivers understand how to take their medications appropriately or accurately? How can we ensure that they receive no lesser care or quality without the traditional face-to-face counselling at the pharmacy? These set the imperatives to map out the basic framework for the implementation of medication delivery by licensed premises/services in Singapore to ensure the proper storage, security, traceability and safety of medication during the delivery process as well as compliance with legal and professional requirements.
To address the above considerations and maintain the pharmaceutical care standards when medications are delivered, PSS Guideline for Supply and Delivery of Medicines to Customers (PSS SDM) was officially launched in August 2016. This document provides guidance to pharmacy business on the provision of medicine supply and delivery services and. On 31st March 2017, a working group (WG), well represented with members from regulations, logistics, pharmacy and medical professional groups, was commissioned by Enterprise Spring (previously known as Spring Singapore) to develop the Singapore Standard for Supply and Delivery of Medicines (SS SDM). The standard extended the scope of PSS SDM beyond pharmacy premises to medical clinics premises/services and balanced it with greater focus on logistics and regulatory processes to ensure operational feasibility and regulatory alignment. This collaborative standard will replace the PSS SDM upon its launch approximately in the middle of this year. The target users will be from pharmacy, medical, logistics, regulators as well as anyone in the business of providing medication last mile delivery. It will serve as guidance to HSA and MOH for audit of licensed pharmacies/medical clinics providing delivery services, however, compliance with this standard does not exempt users from existing regulatory obligations.
SS SDM supports a new dimension of pharmacy services to patients who would no longer need to queue at pharmacy counters to fill their prescriptions or obtain their pharmacy only medications, while still allowing healthcare professionals to have clear oversight over the entire medication distribution process.
Group Photo of the SS SDM Working Group
From Left
Top row: Mr Choi Kwok Keong (Singapore Manufacturing Federation (SMF) - Secretariat), Ms Cai Ziqin (Guardian), Mr Kevin Tan (SMF Secretariat), Mr She Long Huai (SMF Secretariat)
Middle row: Mr Peter Lim (Yamato-TAQBIN), Ms Jasmine Koh (MOH), Ms Michelle Lin (MOH), Ms Christina Lim (SingHealth Polyclinic), Ms Joey Tan (Bright Vision Hospital) Ms Lim Woan Chyi (TTSH)
Bottom row: Dr Tang Chien Her (ST Logistics), Mr Gerry Tan (Griffin Kinetic), Ms Irene Quay (PSS President), Ms Corrinne Tan (NHG Pharmacy, WG Convenor), Mr Marcus Heng (NHG Pharmacy)
Absent: Ms Ang Por Chin (ST Logistics), Ms Joy Chong (Watsons Personal Care Stores), Mr Lee Boon Shim (IMDA), Dr Lou Huei-Xin (MOH), Mr Willie Tan (SingPost), Ms Doris Yeo (HSA), Mr Edwin Yeong (Individual Capacity)
