An article in this week's issue (p340) poses the question: does the concept of pharmaceutical public health spell the end of pharmaceutical care? Those who support the introduction of pharmaceutical care - through which much more is done than is generally the case at present to ensure that treatment with medicines is effective - will find the question rather alarming. Only now is pharmaceutical care beginning to take root on anything like a concerted basis world-wide, yet it seems that it might already be in terminal decline. Fortunately, the writer of the article, Professor Roger Walker of the Welsh school of pharmacy, does not in fact believe that to be the case. While quite rightly emphasising that pharmacists, on a day-to-day basis, can make a significant contribution in the public health field, he does not see that role as an alternative to pharmaceutical care practice, but rather that both should exist together. Furthermore, he sees pharmaceutical care as focusing on the individual in the context of his or her physical, social and mental well-being within society, that is, within a public health context.
One set of pharmacists who are likely to be relieved at this conclusion are the authors of a paper that we publish this week on a team-based clinical pharmacy service in a Kent hospital. They found (see p343) that the practice of pharmaceutical care - screening for medication problems, monitoring treatment and instituting improvements with the agreement of prescribers - provided a safer system for patients and used resources better. It is papers like this that will help pharmaceutical care become standard practice. It is a relief to know that it is not over before it has scarcely begun.