Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 263 No 7068 p668
October 23, 1999 Business

Pharmacists confident on smoking cessation advice

Pharmacists and their staff are confident about recommending products to help customers give up smoking, according to the results of Unichem Ltd's latest mystery shopper research. Researchers for Unichem visited 855 pharmacies which are part of its Community Pharmacy Initiative. In all cases they were recommended a product to help them quit smoking, with 41 per cent of pharmacists recommending Nicorette, 32 per cent Niquitin and 24 per cent Nicotinell. Pharmacists believed that the patch method had the highest rate of success, with 61 per cent supporting this method, compared with 16 per cent for gum and 12 per cent for inhalers.

Pharmacists believed nicotine patches had the highest success rate for smoking cessation

"Pharmacists who look to offer extra advice, such as providing helpline information, provide a better added value service to the customer who will be more likely to return to the pharmacist for a consultation the next time," commented Mr Martyn Ward (sales and marketing director, Unichem).
Unichem researchers judged that 86 per cent of pharmacies visited passed the test in terms of customer service and advice. The use of point of sale materials had increased by 5 per cent to 82 per cent since the previous test three months ago. However, the display of in-store health care information and professional services leaflets was seen to be poor by the researchers, at less than 20 per cent in both cases.