|
Modernisation
The Register
Ramipril
Needle exchange
Letters to the Editor
|
Needle exchange
Kept it going for as long as possible
From Mr R. Gartside, FRPharmS
Terry Maguire believes that the decision of the last two pharmacies in
Colwyn Bay and Rhos on Sea to withdraw from needle exchange was wrong
(PJ, 1 November, p612) but he has not approached the local representative
organisation for the facts of the case. Had he done so he would have
encountered a different story.
Because of the original and continuing efforts of Goronwy Bennett-Williams,
north-west Wales had the first pharmacy needle exchange service in Wales.
We are proud of the fact that there is still not one case of drug misuse-related
HIV among the indigenous population. The service in Colwyn Bay and Rhos
on Sea was kept going by L Rowland & Co long after any reasonable
organisation would have abandoned it, and at considerable cost to the
pharmacies concerned, whose loss of turnover would have closed many independent
pharmacies.
There has been a concerted campaign against needle exchange in Colwyn
Bay and Rhos on Sea, perhaps because this symptom of social decline is
mistaken for the underlying reality. There have been petitions, anonymous
hate mail, abuse of pharmacy staff, protests of all kinds and effective
boycotts of the pharmacies. There has been no public support for the
pharmacies from either the local borough council, the local drug action
teams, or from the various NHS bodies, despite strenuous efforts by my
committee. Indeed, the press release which Mr Maguire quotes was written
by the local drug abuse and NHS teams and distributed by the local borough
council without reference to either Rowlands or my committee and presented
an extremely unbalanced view.
We all feel a personal sense of failure over this sorry episode, but
the pharmacists concerned have done all that can be humanly done to keep
the service going until well past the time that business sense would
have demanded that it end.
Bob Gartside
Northern Executive
Community Pharmacy Wales
| |
The press release to which Mr Gartside refers was included as
a web reference by The Journal as background information since we had not covered the story.
— EDITOR
|
Was there adequate remuneration?
From Mr K. A. T. Ramsden, MRPharmS
I read Terry Maguire’s letter (PJ, 1 November, p612) with interest.
I wonder if the level of remuneration was a factor that encouraged the
affected contractors to withdraw? In my experience it is barely adequate,
and in our area effectively unfunded, despite repeated protestation.
This is an essential public health service in my view, so I agree with
Mr Maguire on this point. However, before I passed judgement on those
concerned, I would be keen to know if those who held the purse strings
were aware of the true value of the service and if they were prepared
to reimburse accordingly. Suffice to say, a business decision need not
conflict with a public health decision — unrosy jobs often require
rosy rewards.
Kurt Ramsden
Community Pharmacist
Guisborough, Cleveland |
* PDF files on PJ Online require Acrobat
Reader 4 or later.