The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7310 p150
31 July 2004

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· Shipman inquiry
· Broad spectrum
· Public health
· Violence in pharmacies
· Pharmacy education
· Tablet identification
· Natural therapies
· Nasal sprays
· Dispensing
· The profession
· The Council
· The Society

Letters to the Editor

Dispensing

Common-sense guidance needed

From Mr P. A. Gimson, MRPharmS

Working as a locum in a pharmacy recently I was presented with the usual sight of a few hundred prescriptions bagged up and ready to go. Having read Jackie Giltrow’s recent article (PJ, 3 July, p35) and the associated Law and Ethics Bulletin (PJ, 28 February, p261) it seems I am now to unpick the staple on each of these and individually recheck each one before it is dispensed.

Having raised this issue with a number of colleagues, hardly any seemed aware of this and hence had not made any changes to their dispensing practice.

I hope inspectors will be raising this issue on their visits so that at my next locum I do not get beaten up when I keep a shop full of angry people waiting around by the delay I will inevitably cause. I also hope action is being taken by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society to provide a common-sense solution to this problem. Will clearer guidance than the afore-mentioned article be produced because I think it raises more questions than it answers? Will I ever be able to get a locum booking again if I follow this guidance to the letter?

Paul Gimson
Cardiff

Should not have to split original packs

From Mr O. Supyk, MRPharmS

I recently had the good fortune to work alongside a Portuguese pharmacist and we compared notes regarding our profession. One of the surprising things that I learnt was that he never has to split any manufacturers’ packs. Each unit has a removable voucher which is attached to the prescription to validate the supply and obtain payment. Surely we in the UK should not have any reason to split packs since we are also EU members? If the Government require us to split manufacturers’ packs then perhaps it should share in the liability when things go wrong.

Orest Supyk
Hinckley, Leicestershire

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