The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7174 710-713
17 November 2001

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Letters to the Editor

Community pharmacy (4 letters)

Those who adapt will survive

From Mrs I. Gummerson, MRPharmS

I know pharmacy is not progressing as fast, or in the direction, as some of us would wish. However, it is still good to meet pharmacists with enthusiasm and excitement in starting novel services, where they have circumvented barriers, tapped into funding and are participating in new, stimulating ventures, using more of their skills.

Recently, in my quest to discover new diabetes services, I have spoken to:

• Pharmacists obtaining funds for diabetes, lipid and blood pressure screening, using Asian interpreters in Euston, London
• A multilingual pharmacist who is organising funding, a venue and personnel to run a healthy lifestyle programme including cooking healthily, exercise, and dance for Asian women in Edinburgh, gaining their confidence for future interventions
• Pharmacists involved in a funded diabetes monitoring programme, offering microalbuminurea, HbA1c, blood pressure and medication review services in Tamworth, Staffordshire

When I visited the pharmacy in Tamworth, I found it to be a revelation. It has: registration forms which patients sign, giving permission for their medical records to be accessed from the surgery; a proactive helpline to help with adherence to treatment and advice; an extensive information technology system suited to medication review; disease management for asthma and coronary heart disease; and therapeutic drug monitoring, including anticoagulant monitoring, lithium management, and lipid profiling. If this was a taste of the future, I wanted some of it.

There are many other pharmacists with interests in many other health topics who are carrying out funded services. They know that in the future we will be paid for the extra services we can provide and less for prescriptions, and they have started to adapt.

Those who adapt will survive.

Irene Gummerson
Wakefield,
West Yorkshire

Stop complaining

From Ms S. S. L. Tang, MRPharmS

I wish people would stop using the term "glorified shopkeeper" to describe community pharmacists. It is naff, clichéd and incredibly irritating, and perhaps illustrates the lack of imagination pharmacists have. What kind of a person would ask a shopkeeper how to take their prescription medicines?

As a locum pharmacist I often find myself working alongside the shopkeeper in pharmacies, and our roles are very different.

I feel sorry for people like Brijesh Patel (PJ, 13 October, p506), who do not seem to have experienced working in a good pharmacy with quality support staff — they do exist.

I agree that there are too many people who do not understand what a pharmacist does and treat the pharmacy like a fruit and vegetable stall. But it is like David Kaye says (PJ, 20 October, p545), the work we find ourselves doing 90 per cent of the time can be done by a technician. And unless we can honestly say we have good, in-depth knowledge of drugs, then we really are worth less than £20 an hour.

My point? It is up to us to make the change, but when are we going to stop complaining and do something about it?

Sharon Tang
School of Pharmacy,
University of London

Glorified shopkeeping?

From Mr J. M. McLusky, MRPharmS

The cover of The Journal of 20 October maybe highlights the reason why pharmacy is considered "glorified shopkeeping". The model — at least I hope so — could not find an overall to fit — sleeves rolled up, press studs undone. Maybe she is in the new "dress down Friday" uniform.

The Office of Fair Trading may like to consider the opening of pharmaceutical outlets in health centres where all true health care issues can be addressed — away from the commercial tat seen frequently and even more so as the Christmas season approaches.

J. Macrae McLusky
Wotton under Edge,
Gloucestershire

Amusing juxtaposition

From Mr R. B. A. Johns, MRPharmS

It is amusing to juxtapose the letters from Dr Judith Rees (PJ, 10 November, p677) and David Sharpe (ibid, p678) and to speculate as to the likelihood of such a patient as the latter describes being willing to accept Dr Rees's instruction to collect the completed prescription at some future time or day.

It seems probable that the patient's reaction, though deferred, would still be, "Did it take this long to put together a few tablets?"

R. B. A. Johns
Boston,
Lincolnshire

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