From Mr D. J. Fallon, MRPharmS
SIR,—I was very annoyed to read the so called warning that appeared in a recent Law and Ethics Bulletin (PJ, October 14, p552), which, frankly, appears to be a complete cop out of responsibility of the powers that be.
The warning suggests that pharmacists should be particularly vigilant when handling the products of manufacturers that use similar packaging for different pharmaceutical products, or for different strengths of the same product. This warning seems to me to be just a legal dodge for saying, "Look, we warned the person in the dock on October 14", when in fact the people in the dock should be the manufacturers who are designing fancy packs to follow the company trend or to win design awards.
To be helpful, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society should not be ashamed to name examples of drugs in question to put pharmacists on their guard, rather than just issuing general waffle. But no matter how many words of warning are issued errors will occur, and I accuse manufacturers of being irresponsible. I know of one manufacturer which packs its oxytetracycline 250mg, glibenclamide 2.5mg, codeine phosphate 15mg, and frusemide 20mg in essentially identical boxes.
The Department of Health should order a committee of inquiry.
Dennis Fallon Birmingham