From Mr G. S. Phillips, MRPharmS
SIR,—At 6.30pm on this wet and windy Christmas Eve we were about to close, when a distraught mother arrived clutching a prescription for an urgent and rare liquid antibiotic. She explained that she was at her wits end as she had been running around all day with her sick child in the car but had not been able to obtain it. Her general practitioner was unobtainable, so I telephoned my local Unichem branch on the off chance. Yes, according to the computer, they had one bottle left. They would check the stock and call back. Five minutes later they telephoned to confirm that the item was in stock and I said I would drive over to collect it. "No need - a driver has just returned, we have created a manual invoice and he has offered to drop the medicine off to you."
The relief evident on the mother's face was the best Christmas gift that I could have been given. Thanks are due to Unichem, which showed that that there is still a human touch behind the computerised automation that powers the medicines distribution chain.
Graham Phillips
Harpenden, Hertfordshire