Chief Pharmaceutical Inspectorate

“The pharmacist should be an integral part of the therapeutic process. Pharmacists are medicine specialists, and pharmacies are among the most accessible healthcare facilities,” said Chief Pharmaceutical Inspector Łukasz Pietrzak.

“One particularly important initiative is the ‘New Medicine’ service. It helps patients understand how to use a newly prescribed medicine correctly, why it has been prescribed, and provides motivational support for treatment. I believe this is an area where pharmacists – at least at the initial stage – are well positioned to offer support,” he added.

He emphasised that patients often feel lost, which leads them to seek information about prescribed medicines on their own. Information found online, particularly concerning potential adverse reactions, may discourage patients from taking their medication.

Non-adherence to medical recommendations is not limited to Poland. It accounts for approximately 9% of all cardiovascular disease complications in Europe. Each year, an estimated 200,000 deaths across the continent are linked to failure to comply with prescribed pharmacotherapy.

Estimates indicate that therapeutic recommendations are not followed by 60% of patients with depression, 58% of patients with hypertension, 50% of patients after myocardial infarction, 45% of patients with dyslipidaemia, 40% of patients with angina, and 38% of patients with diabetes.

Non-adherence does not merely mean skipping doses. It is a broader phenomenon that also includes failure to initiate treatment (primary non-adherence), as well as low persistence – premature discontinuation of therapy despite medical indications for its continuation.

In this context, data on hypertension are particularly telling. Between 2013 and 2018, as many as 24% of newly diagnosed patients did not fill their first prescription for reimbursed medicines, and half of those who initiated treatment discontinued it within the first year.

This demonstrates that the problem is not limited to irregular medication use but often begins at the stage of deciding whether to start therapy and worsens over time. This is particularly important in chronic conditions, where treatment effectiveness depends on long-term, consistent therapy.

The meeting also summarised the activities of the Parliamentary Adherence Group, initiated by Beata Małecka-Libera, along with key national initiatives in this area.