Natalia Wrzosek, Anna Pilarska-Romanowska, Agnieszka Ewa Zimmermann

Emergency contraception as a health service in pharmacy practice – analysis of the legal status

 

2025-02-05

On May 1, 2024, the Regulation of the Minister of Health of April 29, 2024, introducing a pilot program for pharmacist services related to reproductive health, came into effect in Poland. According to this pilot initiative, pharmacists, are permitted to issue pharmaceutical prescriptions for medications containing ulipristal acetatefollowing a mandatory patient interview. The service is available to patients aged 15 and older, with a limit of one prescription per patient every 30 days.

Defining this activity as a pharmaceutical service, which includes a patient interview, has led to numerous disputes and interpretative challenges, particularly regarding the need to obtain informed consent from minor patients. While the regulation classifies these activities as a pharmacist’s service, several arguments suggest that they fall within the broader concept of health services. This interpretation is supported by the definition of a pilot program, which is reserved for testing new conditions for the organization, implementation, or financing of healthcare services.

The legal framework also underscores the need to respect patients’ rights, including the mandatory verification of their eligibility for publicly funded healthcare services. These requirements indicate that the described activities constitute a health service, as defined by the Act on Patient Rights and the Patient Ombudsman, which in turn defines a patient as a person who uses health services.

The aim of this study is to resolve the dilemma of whether the activities performed by pharmacists under the reproductive health pilot program should be classified as pharmaceutical services or health services. The analysis also examines the consequences of this classification, particularly with regard to the requirement of obtaining informed consent from minor patients. To address this issue, the legal framework and relevant scientific literature were analyzed. The analysis of the legal status leaves doubts, which may cause pharmacists to fear joining the pilot in question.

Keywords: reproductive health, emergency contraception, pharmacy practice.

© Farm Pol, 2024, 80(9): 635–644