It does not surprise me to see some correspondence in The Journal pouring scorn on the idea, emanating from Lambeth itself, that pharmacists should not be permitted to dispense individual prescriptions secundum artem. When I first graduated this was regarded as a primary function of pharmacy, and every student was painstakingly trained to incorporate ingredients into a medicine in conformity with the wishes of the prescriber, however difficult this might be technically. To accept any other position is to argue that a pharmacist is nothing better than a hander-out of prepacked formulations.
I admit that almost all my experience has been in hospital pharmacy, and there it was not unusual for a consultant to request novel formulations for individual patients, occasionally requiring the preparation in the laboratory of a salt or ester not commercially available, or an ampouled injection requiring quality checks. In recent years, especially in primary care, prescribers think generally in terms of advertised manufacturers' preparations in original packs, which merely need a label. I cannot imagine that any student with a modicum of self-esteem would choose a profession whose sole function was to stick labels on cartons.
It might be an appropriate time to remind ourselves of the duties and functions of a pharmaceutical graduate. The role of pharmacy has extended recently and functions which a practitioner 10 years ago would not have dreamed of are now accepted as within the responsibilities of a primary health care professional. The fact that community pharmacists are not properly remunerated is beside the point. To deny pharmacy its role as the profession expert on all aspects of drugs and chemicals, including their formulation into medicines, is to dismiss it out of hand.
It is worth reflecting on the statement in the profession's Code of Ethics that "there must be adequate, suitable equipment in the dispensary", including a dispensing balance, graduated glass measures and a range of dispensing containers. Among additional equipment it mentions an ointment tile, spatulae, stirring rods, pestles, mortars "and other appropriate equipment". Moreover, there must be "suitable means for sterilisation of medicinal products prepared on the premises". Are all these items intended for decoration, or might they conceivably be used when the time arrives?