The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 270 No 7240 p365-366
15 March 2003
PDF* 65K
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The Pharmaceutical Journal |
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PDF* 65K |
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OFT report
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OFT reportWhy should community pharmacy have anything to fear?From Mr G. Laidlaw I am obliged to point out from the outset that I am not a pharmacist but since my wife has been a pharmacist for many years, most recently in a large supermarket, I cannot claim total impartiality. The Office of Fair Trading report has prompted an astonishing amount of vitriol, both in the national press and in your publication, to be heaped on the concept of supermarket pharmacy. The myth that some of your correspondents are keen to perpetuate is that of the smiling local pharmacist who knows all his patients' names and ailments, dealing with problems as he pats the children on the head and hands out liquorice root, compared with the supermarket whiz-kid whose only objective is to swarm up the corporate ladder as quickly as possible. Nothing could be further from the truth and is a slur on the integrity and dedication of many pharmacists. As a customer, I believe that our views have not been sought, merely assumed. The long opening hours of a supermarket and the ability of the pharmacist to concentrate on his or her own job rather than that of a shop assistant combine to provide a service for which many people are grateful. Let us face it, if community pharmacies offer a service vastly superior to that of the supermarket, they have nothing to fear from deregulation, do they? Geoff Laidlaw Prices will rocketFrom Mr W. J. Hearnshaw, MRPharmS Helen Badham (PJ, 8 March, p332) is naive. If the Government rejects the Office of Fair Trading recommendation then the market price of existing pharmacies will rocket and she and other aspirational students will be unable to pay the prices. If the recommendation is rejected, when present proprietors reach retirement age to whom are they going to sell their businesses? Not to young independent pharmacists, but to huge multiples and supermarkets, which will be the only ones able to afford them. And when most pharmacies are in the hands of such companies, which voices will be shouting for deregulation? Why, the very same voices touting their own vested, short-term interests now. If her suggestions are implemented, Ms Badham may well find herself working for the supermarkets she currently decries. W. J. Hearnshaw Independents' altruism may disappear foreverFrom Mr G. A. Fox, MRPharmS The Office of Fair Trading report should have concentrated on facts, not on economic dogma promoted by self-interested parties. Consider the situation in Dunstable. This town has had a first-class pharmaceutical service during the past 15 years of stabilised pharmacy entry. My pharmacy has had only two owners since it was established in 1887. It has thrived by giving customer service as a priority. The last time regulations were removed under Margaret Thatcher in 1985 we suffered what my accountant called a "profit holiday year". Putting in my own resources, we survived two leapfroggings until regulations that still exist today were applied two years later, saving us from extinction. The stability that has existed since then has forced all pharmacies in this town to compete by an emphasis on patient care. We thus have one contractor open from 9am until 9pm every day and every Sunday and bank holiday. Two others have vehicles collecting and delivering prescriptions. I have concentrated on surgical, continence and disability needs, and on holding a wide range of pharmaceuticals. The multiples have competed strongly on retail goods. In spite of the current restrictions we have seen one pharmacy move into a supermarket and another open in a village just outside the main town. During this period, there has been neither complaint about any lack of pharmacy access geographically nor about hours of service from any member of the public. The ill-conceived OFT report, if implemented, will jeopardise these services with no improvement for the public. Where did the OFT get its data? Who researched and examined the results? Does the Department of Health really think that multiples and supermarkets could improve the National Health Service side of pharmacy? They have shareholders to consider and accountants to insist upon rapid stock turns with "just-in-time" ordering to burnish the bottom line. Wholly health centre based pharmacies could, without realistic competition, become economically stagnant. Once independents disappear, their altruism and "free services" will be gone forever. Gerald Fox A health centre is the best place for a pharmacyFrom Mr A. P. Gledhill, MRPharmS I have been following the correspondence relating to the Office of Fair Trading report with interest. Surely the best place for a community pharmacy is in a local community health centre. A town of 100,000 people may have 10 of these centres scattered around the town occupied by medical, nursing, pharmacy, dental and podiatry staff, among others. The health centres should be built to a high specification with large car parks and good public transport links. Regular visits and support from hospital specialists would decrease the congestion and delay associated with visiting hospital outpatient clinics. These centres would employ a number of pharmacists engaged in a variety of clinically related duties (supplementary prescribing, medication review, counselling, research). Pharmacy access to electronic patient records and biochemistry results, etc, would be relatively straightforward. Most of our previous role as suppliers of medicines could be delegated, subject to suitable managerial responsibility, to qualified pharmacy technicians. Maybe this is a Utopian, socialist view of the future of community pharmacy but I think it is the right one. Andrew Gledhill |
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