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Letters to the Editor
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The profession
Has pharmacy changed for the better?
From Mr B. Cheetham, MRPharmS
Having been in community pharmacy for nigh on 49 years — apprentice,
student and 44-plus years on the register — I have seen much change
and development:
· Remuneration negotiations with the Department of Health have mostly
resulted in more throughput for the same returns. This was laughable
to the point of being ludicrous.
· There have been attempts to increase our share of the global sum, by
taking on further jobs, to help our poor stressed and exhausted GPs by
doing cholesterol testing, blood sugar testing, heart monitoring and
now taking temperatures with no thought for the stressed and exhausted
pharmacist on the dispensing treadmill.
· There has been a rapid introduction of patient counselling, demanding
more of the busy pharmacist’s time.
· We have seen the introduction of continuing professional development,
to be done in our own time.
· We have allowed the government and supermarkets to abandon resale price
maintenance to the detriment of community pharmacy. To add insult to
injury we now have the 100 hour rule being implemented — another
nail in the community pharmacist coffin. These new outlets should be
charged 50 to 100 times the normal premises fee.
· We have experienced a regular, higher than inflation increase in registration
fees. From 1999 to the now proposed new fee is an increase of over 90
per cent.
· Now we have a new register, giving us the choice of being active or
not with no half measures. This is sure to bring a loss of many useful
pharmacists just working the odd day or a couple of lunchtimes. This
particular change makes me feel I am being put out to grass or thrown
on the scrap heap. All I can say to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
is “thank you very much”.
Brian Cheetham
Exmouth, Devon
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal