The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7316 p348
11 September 2004

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· Personal control
· Shipman
· Animal testing
· Charter
· Statins
· Cholesterol testing
· Media scrutiny
· Retention fee
· Enhanced services

Letters to the Editor

Enhanced services

Embrace new services in the correct manner

From Mr M. Ellis-Martin, MRPharmS

With reference to the letter from Samir Vohra (“Shooting the profession in the foot”, PJ, 14 August, p219) I would like to add to his comments. The absence of charging for services certainly undermines the profession. It could be argued that the negative effect is mitigated to some extent by the enhanced image given to the person carrying out this “clinical” activity. In practice, probably because funding for these services is so poor, it is frequently not the pharmacist but technicians or assistants who actually carry out the testing. In my experience these technicians are usually the most experienced and useful dispensers.

The net effect is that the pharmacist is tied even more firmly to the dispensing bench due to their absence. This reinforces the image of the pharmacist as a dispenser — an image that many people are working hard to help us to move away from. I would, therefore, urge the pharmacies and businesses involved to set up proper fee structures and to ensure that pharmacists are allowed to fully embrace new services in the correct manner, and that if technicians are used it should be as well as, not instead of, pharmacists.

Mike Ellis-Martin
Brighton University School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences
Brighton

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