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The NPA is calling on the government to rule out proposals that would allow non-pharmacists to supervise the supply of prescription-only medicines.

The call comes after the report which found that NHS-wide medication errors are leading to the deaths of thousands of people each year.   

Commissioned by the Department of Health and Social Care the report says the errors - in hospitals, care-homes, pharmacies and GP surgeries  €“ also cost the NHS £1.6bn.

However, in the months leading up to today's announcement government officials were drawing up detailed proposals to allow pharmacy technicians to supervise prescription-only medicine supply.

An NPA spokesman said: €Community pharmacists are the last line of defence against medication errors, dispensing more than a billion prescription items each year and clinically checking each one.

€They use their professional judgement and expertise to query about 6.6m of those items, helping avoid many incidents that might otherwise have resulted in serious harm.

€Pharmacy technicians are a valued part of any pharmacy team but it's hard to see how removing medicines experts from the supply process can improve patient safety.

€Such proposals must be ruled out.€