Sixty-nine per cent of people reject any shift from local pharmacies supplying NHS medicines to online retailers, a new report from the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has revealed. 

The Face to Face report also showed that some 87 per cent of people and 98 per cent of those over 55 years of age believe that local pharmacies are the better way to obtain healthcare advice, compared with 13 per cent for online pharmacies. 

The report concludes that face-to-face interaction with patients is key to the success of many healthcare interventions and that there are clinical, social and systems benefits to face-to-face pharmaceutical care over models of remote medicines supply.

Commenting on the report, NPA chairman Ian Strachan said: “There are probably more face-to-face interactions in community pharmacies than in any other part of the health and social system. In an age when the online supply of medicines is becoming an increasingly prominent feature, it is important to remember how fundamental the human touch is in healthcare.”