Medical Specialists® become first UK online pharmacy to display new EU common logo

Medical Specialists® Pharmacy know that purchasing/obtaining medicine and other pharmaceutical products over the internet can be risky. Are the products legitimate or counterfeit? Are qualified doctors and pharmacists actually involved in the process and will anyone actually even assess the online consultation you fill out, putting your health first? Or, is the website even legal and that of a real pharmacy?

Medical Specialists® have become a pioneer for security and safety in their field. The pharmacy became the first ‘One Stop Pharmacy and Doctors’ in the UK, operating an efficient, trusted and safe website where patient details are not supplied to any third party, and now it just so happens that Medical Specialists® have become one of first online pharmacies in the UK to be approved by the MHRA, and the first to display the new mandatory EU common logo.

Patients should avoid at all costs any website that sells medicines and does not display the new logo – it is law and needs to be shown! Also, bear in mind that any website that does display the logo, which when clicked, doesn’t take the user to that companies’ listing on the MHRA’s medicine seller register and state they are approved by the MHRA, then this would suggest it is an illegal website and again should be avoided immediately.

The mandatory logo for selling medicines online though will go some way to helping people identify the legal/real pharmacies from the fraudsters. From 1 July it was determined that anybody in the UK selling medicines online to the general public had to be MHRA registered and be on the MHRA’s list of UK registered online retail sellers.

Those patients that are already using legitimate online pharmacies such as Medical Specialists®, will undoubtedly already have seen the clickable green cross logo, which is part of a voluntary scheme from the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC). Users that click on this particular logo will be taken to the GPhC register of pharmacies and can see verification that this pharmacy is who they are claiming to be.

Medical Specialists® GPhC logo:



The new EU common logo will be required in addition to the GPhC logo and will not act as a substitution. Like the GPhC logo, the EU common logo is clickable, but the hyperlink will direct people to the MHRA’s list of registered online pharmacies. This will be an extra level of security, reassurance and peace of mind for the consumer, who will now be given a guarantee the medicine they receive will be legitimate and safe. Unlike the GPhC logo, the EU common logo will need to be shown on every page of the online medicine retailer’s website where selling to a patient occurs.

A sample EU common logo:

The MHRA website states: ‘Under the rules of the new scheme the medicine being offered online must be licensed in the member state where the member of public who buys the medicine is based. The person selling the medicine must be legally entitled to sell medicine to the public in accordance with UK medicines legislation. Registered pharmacies can sell general sales list medicine, pharmacy medicine or supply prescription-only medicine that they have dispensed against a prescription. All other general retailers can only sell general sales list products. The penalty for selling medicines online without being registered and not displaying the logo is up to 2 years in prison or a fine or both.’

So why the change and introduction of the EU common logo? With the rise of the internet and e-commerce, criminals such as medicine counterfeiters have a quick, efficient and direct route to target their unsuspecting customers, with countless illegal websites emerging on search engines in recent years. Common tactics used to persuade people to part with their money include the sale of medicines or products with suspiciously low prices and outrageously illegal offers on prescription drugs, such as “buy one get one free”. Imagine going to see your doctor and he offered you a buy one get one free on any particular treatment for a serious medical condition…the notion is preposterous and simply put, it wouldn’t happen.

However, Medical Specialists® are committed to help stamping out such websites; we have published numerous articles on the many ways how to spot a fake online pharmacy and on 17 March 2015 reported how The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had carried out a huge crackdown on illegal websites, shutting down 1,600 in total.

This is great news of course as falsified medicines are a massive threat to public health and safety. It is questionable that counterfeit drugs have been manufactured in sanitary conditions, contain the same ingredients as the genuine article, and may have been produced using a wide variety of dangerous and toxic chemicals.

Many of the Medical Specialists® first-time patients express some degree of fear – especially over the telephone to our Order Team – and understandably so after the 1,000s of illegal websites and fake pharmacies that have unfortunately spread across the major search engines over the years. As previously mentioned though, the MHRA are working tirelessly to eradicate these from the internet and leave the genuine pharmacies, such as Medical Specialists®. The introduction of the mandatory common EU logo is another welcome step to guaranteeing a safe experience for all patients obtaining medicines via the internet.

Binge drinkers are ignoring ‘unrealistic’ guidlines on daily limits

A new study has suggested that official UK government guidelines – which are currently under review –  on how much alcohol is safe to consume each day are generally disregarded by drinkers due to the guidelines being unrealistic, outdated, and should be amended to reflect modern day drinking trends.

Currently, the recommended daily limits states that men should consume no more than three to four units of alcohol (equivalent to a pint and a half of 4% beer) and for women it is just two to three units (equivalent to a 175ml glass of wine per).

However, the study discovered that people are simply ignoring the guidelines due to the fact they are not drinking every single day, but instead waiting until the weekend and drink heavily to get drunk. Indeed it seems there and more and more binge drinkers now than ever.

Moreover, the whole notion of ‘units’ is baffling to many drinkers as they don’t even know what a unit of alcohol is or represents and are typically measuring their intake in pints, bottles and glasses, meaning the 30-year-old ‘unit’ limits for safe levels of regular drinking are irrelevant.

The research, led by the University of Sheffield and published in the journal Addiction, involved carrying out extensive interviews with 66 men and women from England and Scotland aged between 19 and 65, quizzing them about their attitudes to alcohol guidelines in this country, and showing them the advice that is used in other countries. Most seemed to be aware of the guidelines, but viewed them as unrelated to their own drinking habits.

The study authors argue that their findings show the UK guidelines were viewed as “having little relevance to participants’ drinking behaviours and were generally disregarded.”
Participants stated the recommended levels laid out in the alcohol guidelines were “seen as unrealistic” for people that didn’t drink daily, but sometimes wanted to get drunk. In addition, participants found alcohol units unhelpful and confusing, preferring advice which related to bottles, glasses or pints.

Instead, those interviewed found the Australian and Canadian advice more useful to them, which provides a maximum limit of four drinks on any occasion, in addition to advice about daily amounts.
In 2014 Australia launched a “stay classy” alcohol advice campaign, primarily targeting the binge drinking culure.

Lead researcher Dr John Holmes, from the University of Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, said: “What we found is that the guidelines at the moment kind of assume that people drink a bit too much, very often.

“In fact we were finding people saying’ I don’t drink too often but when I go out I do want to get a bit drunk’ and they didn’t see the advice as relevant.”

He added that people generally want advice which was purely focused on the problem of binge drinking, giving them a more achievable limit.

“We have a culture where we do like to go out and have a big night, we don’t really have the Mediterranean approach of little and often, we are more part of a northern European culture which doesn’t drink so regularly, but will drink more on particular occasions,” he said.

A Department of Health spokesman said: “We want information for the public to be clear and the unit of alcohol was introduced in 1987 as a way of helping people to understand and measure how much alcohol they are drinking- whether it’s in a can, bottle or pint glass. But we want to keep our guidance up to date which is why our Chief Medical Officer is currently reviewing all the guidelines for drinking.”

Last year, Medical Specialists® Pharmacy began to provide help to those with a dependence on alcohol through the alcohol dependency treatment Selincro (nalmefene).

Selincro is ideal for heavy drinkers that are not in need of immediate detoxification, and whom have a high level of alcohol consumption 2 weeks after the first consultation with the doctor. This is defined as more than 60g of alcohol per day for men or more than 40g of alcohol per day for women. The great news for those who are prescribed it is that there is no risk of becoming dependent on Selincro.

Selincro’s active ingredient nalmefene works by latching onto certain opioid receptors in the brain that are responsible for addictive behaviour, altering their activity, thereby decreasing the urge to continue drinking.

Risky Holiday Sex Habits Uncovered by Medical Specialists® Pharmacy Survey

Despite the fact that British weather is generally OK around June to August, this is still the peek time for holidaymakers to venture abroad and bask in the glorious sunshine in popular destinations such as Ibiza, Majorca, Benidorm and many more.

Relaxing on the beach sipping sangria or beer and forgetting about worries at home can feel like heaven, but it can risk making people feel a little too relaxed. This carefree spirit that often goes hand-in-hand with holidays abroad can lead to a slightly reckless attitude in regards to safe sex and sexual health – especially when alcohol is involved.

Booze can lead to a complete loss of inhibitions and then engaging in risky sexual liaisons with strangers…something perhaps people might have thought twice about back at home. Getting too drunk and ‘caught up in the moment’ is a worrying trend and this poor attitude is being shown by thousands – especially those in their late teens and early 20s – and is something Medical Specialists® Pharmacy wanted to learn more about.

These attitudes were explored in the journal Tourism Management, and then discussed on 23rd July in the Daily Mail Online.

Therefore, Medical Specialists® thought this would be the perfect time to discuss more findings on the subject matter, coming from a survey carried out at the beginning of the month to mark the start of summer.

With an extensive sexual health product range like that spans from the Clamelle chlamydia testing kit, to antibiotics for chlamydia and gonorrhoea and female contraceptive pills, Medical Specialists® are strong advocates for the improving of sexual health and sexual health services…even giving away 1,000s of free condoms over the last few years during Sexual Health Week and for World AIDS Day.

Therefore, with summer beginning at the start of July, Medical Specialists® decided to quiz patients about their attitudes to sex – in particularly looking at behaviours when overseas during a summer holiday. In total, 2,235 single people aged between 18 and 30 decided to take part in the survey, which provided some interesting, and perhaps worrying findings.

Although more than 60% said they always carried condoms whilst on holiday, nearly 40% admitted to only occasionally packing condoms, or never bothering to at all. The survey found that 22% were too embarrassed to talk about contraception when having sex with a new partner.

A staggering 78% said they had previously had sex with a fellow holidaymaker, with 40% of the respondents claiming they had even slept with a local. At the extreme end of the scale, 4% of those surveyed said that had more than 10 sexual partners on their last holiday.

Shockingly, more than a third (34%) confessed they had cheated on a partner whilst on holiday, but just 5% of those had been found out by their partner.

Questions were also asked about any possible sexually transmitted infections (STIs) people may have brought back from holiday along with their luggage, tans and hangovers. A statistic that Medical Specialists® finds alarming, nearly half (47%) said they had never been tested for a sexually transmitted infection.

Moreover, 20% of those surveyed said they had been diagnosed with an STI after returning from a holiday overseas, with chlamydia (46%) being by far the most commonly diagnosed infection, followed by genital warts(22%) and genital herpes rounding off the top three at 19%.

It is vital to remember that within certain countries compared to the UK, STIs can be extremely common and obviously this places people at an even greater risk. In addition, with the most common STI (chlamydia), around seven in 10 women and half of men infected with chlamydia don’t show up with any signs or symptoms.

However, symptoms of STIs can include:

• Unusual discharge from your penis, vagina or anus.
• Itching, blisters, sores or lumps on or around the genitals.
• Pain or tenderness in the testicles.
• Pain or a burning feeling when passing urine.
• Darker urine.
• For women, bleeding between periods and/or after sex.

For those that have engaged in unprotected sex (and not just whilst on holiday) or believe they may have contracted an STI, it is vital to see a GP or visit a sexual health clinic to get tested as soon as possible. If the infection isn’t treated, this could lead to more serious health problems such as infertility.

Alternatively, Medically Specialists® Pharmacy offer the Clamelle chlamydia test kit for just £24.85 which can be used in the privacy and comfort of your own home to prevent an embarrassing visit to the GP or GUM clinic and there is no need to take any time off work