The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7183 p122
2 February 2002

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One small step for the NHS [more]
Membership and modernisation [more]

One small step for the NHS

Publication this week of the strategy document "Potential candidates for reclassification from POM to P" is of little significance, superficially, in the National Health Service jigsaw. There has been little fanfare and no major Department of Health press conference. However, when you look at the line-up of organisations involved in its compilation (p131) — ranging from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, the Proprietary Association of Great Britain, the Association of British Pharmaceutical Industry, the Royal College of General Practitioners to the Medicines Control Agency — you have to sit up and take note.

In effect whole classes of drugs, currently only available with a prescription from a doctor, could, in future, be available from a pharmacist. Patients' lives could be transformed. Many of those with self-limiting illnesses would be able to visit their local pharmacy for advice and medication within the hour; expert patients and others with chronic conditions would be able to have their progress monitored at their convenience; and pharmacists would be on the way to becoming independent prescribers.

There are, of course, plenty of rocks and hard places on the road to Nirvana and the overhaul to the system will not take place overnight. Lack of training for pharmacists and reluctance on the part of pharmaceutical companies to encourage the switch of their products from POM to P if they only have a 90-day marketing window (PJ, 5/12 January, p3) are two obstacles that may be put in the way. But it would be a disaster for the whole NHS if they were not overcome.

This one small step for the NHS could be a giant stride for pharmacy and is an opportunity that should not be missed.

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Membership and modernisation

The leading article "Bitter pills" in The Journal just before Christmas (15 December 2001, p838) touched a raw nerve. Although the article was commenting only on the question of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society as a trade union, many readers gave the comments a much wider remit than intended — a sign that the anxieties about what the Society means as a membership organisation run deep.

The debate is taken a step further on this week, with an article from the President of the Society on what membership means, particularly in terms of modernising the regulatory process (p153), and also a summary of how other health regulators are tackling the same issues (p154). Although these contributions may not allay everybody's anxieties, they should do much to clarify the direction of travel.

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