The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7173 676-680
10 November 2001

This page
Reprint
Photocopy

  Naltrexone implants
  Medicines storage
  Supervision
  Primary care pharmacy
  The industry
  Community pharmacy
  Published research
  Pharmacy careers
  Pharmacy in Europe
  Onlooker
  Statutory Committee
  Council election
  The Society

Letters to the Editor

Community pharmacy (2 letters)

New ideas

From Mr D. K. Parmar, MRPharmS

I must agree with Ajay Patel on American tourists and prescription refills (PJ, 29 September, p428). Once a diagnosis has been made and a length of treatment has been established surely pharmacists in the UK should be able to refill prescriptions for future dispensing. There is an advantage to this in that they would be able to carry out drug utilisation reviews, as we do in the United States, and could respond to over-use of medicines and refer patients to general practitioners. This would help in the management of costs to the National Health Service and reduce wastage. I call upon the British Government to make this happen. The NHS is not a bottomless pit and this system of review would help alleviate the ailing NHS economy.

I have been fortunate to see methods in both the US and the UK and pharmacists in the UK can learn a lot from the American systems. Most over-the-counter drugs are not usually prescribed and patients are encouraged by their GPs to purchase them.

Generic substitution is allowed in the US and should be seriously considered in the UK. Pharmacists, after years of training, are in the best position to decide whether a drug can be substituted or not.

Currently, UK law hinders progression for our profession and we must embrace new ideas in order to move forward.

Dan Parmar
Fort Myers, Florida

It's only tablets

From Mr D. N. Sharpe, FRPharmS

It's probably not a record but it was for me. A patient came into the pharmacy recently with a prescription for 28 items and said "I'll wait, it's only tablets".

David Sharpe
London NW11

Back to Top

Previous Topic (The industry)
Next Topic (Published research)
Send your letter to The Editor