The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7170 p545-548
20 October 2001

This page
Reprint
Photocopy

  The Profession
  Community pharmacy
  Pharmacy software
  Prescribing
  Interactions
  Veterinary science
  Locums
  The Journal
  The Council
  Statutory Committee

Letters to the Editor

Community pharmacy (2 letters)

More glorified than shopkeepers

From Mr A. B. Patel, MRPharmS

In response to Brijesh Patel’s letter (PJ, 13 October, p506), he seems to have totally misunderstood and misinterpreted what my letter was trying to say (PJ, 29 September, p428).

I used the words “glorified shopkeeper”. I think that we are slightly more glorified than ordinary shopkeepers, after all we are professionals and although we may work the same hours as shopkeepers, often without a break, and often shown a lack of respect by our customers and employers, we have a lot of responsibility.

In short I was trying to emphasise that we were more glorified than shopkeepers. I was not saying that our job was glorified. I was merely making a comparison to a non-professional job.

Ajay Patel
Croydon, Surrey

NHS in disarray

From Mr M. Silver, MRPharmS

The National Health Service is in disarray. In primary care it can take up to a month to obtain an appointment with a general practitioner. A repeat prescription takes a minimum of 48 hours. Patients cannot go to a practitioner of their choice, but must register with one doctor only. The local health authority controls the number of doctors in an area and it is not possible to set up in competition with the existing doctors in a neighbourhood, and obtain a NHS contract. The secondary services are rapidly becoming a disgrace with long waiting lists for outpatient appointments and operations.

With all these and many other woes in the NHS, it amazes me that the Office of Fair Trading has decided to examine the control of entry regulations which govern how NHS contracts are granted as part of a review of the whole market for pharmacy services.

In a UK pharmacy it takes perhaps two minutes to be served, and another two minutes to dispense the prescription. Many other services are available, free of charge and at no expense to the exchequer. The patient is also at liberty to take their prescription to any pharmacy.

The demand for an examination of the regulations is for the most part at the request of large companies who need to dominate the complete retail sector. They have found that by clever merchandising and advertising, they can cream off virtually all these sales leaving the slow moving, low profit lines to the independent sector.

The number of NHS prescriptions, unlike other articles of merchandise, is finite. Should there be another “free for all” in the granting of contracts there must inevitably be a drop in the viability of existing pharmacies. Slow moving lines will become unobtainable and levels of service cannot increase as they are already at a premium level. Small manufacturers will not be able to bring new innovative goods onto the market, as large stores can only afford to stock fast moving consumer goods.

Come on Mr Director General, if you need a job of work to do in the NHS I suggest you get to grips with those areas that are of real cause for complaint. No profession is perfect, least of all pharmacy, may I beg you to get your priorities in the right order. As the Americans would say “if it works, don’t fix it”.

Martin Silver
Ilford, Essex

Back to Top

Previous Topic (The Profession)
Next Topic (Pharmacy software)
Send your letter to The Editor