Branches join in response to Which? report
Many representative of the Society's local branches appeared on television and radio programmes to talk about the standards of care and advice provided by pharmacies following the Which? report on pharmacy services.
In advance of its publication, copies of the report, together with the
Society’s response, were sent out to branch and regional secretaries
and public relations officers to encourage them to respond to local media
enquiries.
Kurt Ramsden, public relations officer for the Teesside branch, appeared
as a Society spokesman on the BBC Six O’Clock News, which filmed
a special report from his pharmacy in Redcar, Cleveland. He said: “The
BBC’s coverage gave a positive view of community pharmacy and the
front line role played by both pharmacists and their assistants in giving
good advice and support to patients.”
John Gentle, secretary of the Shropshire branch, appeared on BBC Radio
Shropshire and the independent Beacon Radio. He said: “The Which? story provided a good opportunity to get positive pharmacy messages across
to listeners. Following the interviews, I received feedback from the
radio stations to say that they received many calls from listeners throughout
the day in support of their local pharmacy services, turning a negative
story into a positive pro-pharmacy one.”
The branch activity supplemented headquarters action to deal with national
media coverage of the report. The President, Dr Gill Hawksworth, and
the director of practice and quality improvement, David Pruce, were interviewed
for Sky News, BBC News, Breakfast, Lunchtime and Evening News, GMTV,
ITN, Radio 5 Live and Independent Radio News. The President was also
interviewed for a number of local radio stations.
The President told the February
Council meeting that the Society’s
representatives had represented pharmacy robustly in dealing with media
reaction. Despite difficult circumstances, they had risen to the challenge
and done their best to counter the negative publicity.
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal