From Mr C. Morris, MRPharmS
SIR,—I was interested to read (PJ, January 22, p118) that Mr Wally Dove has proposed that pharmacists could give influenza jabs to take the pressure off general practitioners.
I do hope that as chairman of the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee he has a suitable fee in mind to claim from the Government for such a service, or is this another service that we do for nothing to raise our professional image?
Why is pharmacy the only profession that raises its professional image by providing services at a cost to its professionals?
Doctors charge £10 to sign a passport photograph, dentists charge £10 to let you sit in a chair, solicitors charge £25 to sign anything. They are all seen as professionals.
Pharmacists bend over backwards to make sure prescriptions do not take too long, or that they are delivered, but mainly we bend over backwards not to upset the government or cost them too much.
Do we get seen as professionals? Nine times out of 10 I am lucky to be treated like a human. Normally, I am treated as the moron who cannot collect a prescription from a surgery on time.
Maybe we should stop coming up with our own ideas on how to raise our professional image and look to professionals who already have image down pat.
C. Morris
Newquay, Cornwall