Sociology
Sociological debate: we ignore it at our peril
From Mr P. J. Mutton, MRPharmS
Your correspondent, J. H. Morgan (PJ, 12 October, p525), wants to know
what the series of articles on the social dimensions of pharmacy was intended
to convey. Sociological debate informs us what society expects of our
profession and therefore how we should shape our services to meet those
expectations. Pharmacy operates within the framework of governmental policy
and as that policy is also shaped by the sociological debate, we ignore
it at our peril.
Unfortunately, our profession is largely led by people who benefit from
the status quo. Their policies are shaped by their vested interests rather
than by the social context in which pharmacy functions. Consequently they
are ineffectual in moving the profession forward and this is the reason
why only 0.5 per cent of pharmacists believe the profession has enjoyed
strong and effective leadership over the past 10 years (PJ, 28 September,
p427).
It is also the reason why the Council has placed so much emphasis on
the modernisation programme — a response to the Kennedy report which
ought to have been entirely non-controversial. Boring the pants off the
membership with this irrelevant debate serves to hide the fact that important
issues are being ignored. Reviewing the structure of the Council and its
committees is not important — reviewing the structure of pharmaceutical
services and their suitability for delivering pharmaceutical care is.
Despite the best efforts of leading edge practitioners and despite numerous
reports urging a clinically focused future for pharmacy, the majority
of our profession still toils under a remuneration structure that puts
profits before patients. It is scandalous that community pharmacists who
intervene to reduce unnecessary prescribing lose out financially because
their leaders negotiate a volume-based contract. Presumably someone does
well out of this arrangement but it is not the patient. The sociological
debate tells us that this state of affairs is not sustainable.
Harding and Taylor’s series of articles is therefore among the most
relevant and important that have appeared in The Journal for many years.
The blunt message is that pharmacy can heed either the needs of the company
accountants and be damned or the needs of society and flourish. It is
high time we chose the latter.
Peter Mutton
Elgin, Morayshire
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