From Dr E. R. Blay, MRCGP, MRPharmS
SIR,—Eighty per cent of diagnostic tests carried out at pharmacies are incorrectly interpreted or result in inappropriate advice being given to patients, according to the October issue of the Consumers Association magazine Health Which?.
The accuracy of the tests is not brought into question. I would suggest that with access to the internet and access to any library or home references many patients will come to their own conclusions, once the results are given to them. For instance, Dr Barry J. Marshall has his own website and can be accessed by patients who have a positive result for Helicobacter pylori. It is well worth a visit.
Perhaps diagnostic testing is an area suitable for the attention of the College of Pharmacy Practice and its members. Alternatively, provision could be made for a diploma course in near-patient testing, coupled with training in phlebotomy. I understand that some anticoagulant clinics are already managed by pharmacists.
Much as brachiation freed the hands of our arboreal ancestors, computerisation and robotics are freeing the hands of today's pharmacists to extend their role and help their over-worked colleagues in general practice.
Finally, antibiotic prescribing will ever be an area of dispute until microbiologically based diagnosis precedes the treatment. Such near patient testing is already with us and only needs to be extended. I am pleased that no one suggested that pharmacists should stop testing, but only that advice needs to be relevant.
E. R. Blay
Fareham, Hampshire