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Letters to the Editor
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Supermarket pharmacies
Pharmacies and tobacconists should not co-exist
From Mr A. M. Brown, MRPharmS
Last week’s Journal (23 October, p591) contained a summary of the
Scientific Committee on Tobacco and Health’s recent report
on the dangers of passive smoking, which recommends a ban on smoking in all workplaces
and enclosed public places. The pharmacist’s role in promoting smoking
cessation was specifically mentioned in the report.
Shortly after qualifying, when I worked as a locum, the pharmacy premises
sometimes housed an off-licence, where cigarettes and alcohol were freely
sold within a few feet of the dispensary area. I remember feeling uncomfortable
with this and tended to decline work in those sort of shops. Nonetheless,
the juxtaposition of medicines and tobacco was accepted by patients and
customers alike. Indeed, patients commonly purchased their cigarettes while
waiting for their Ventolin inhaler to be dispensed. Such a scenario would
seem preposterous nowadays, of course. Thank goodness our Society subsequently
decided to prohibit registration of premises offering for sale “any
product which may be injurious to public health, or may bring the profession
into disrepute”. We have long since moved away from those dark days.
Or have we?
Are there not a great many outlets where a pharmacy and tobacconist co-exist
under the same roof. I am thinking of the superstores, most of which seem
to have a pharmacy within their premises. Surely these situations must
be contrary to the Royal Pharmaceutical Society’s code of ethics.
How has this been allowed to happen?
On the same page of last week’s Journal (p591), under the report “Boots
plans to sell alcoholic drinks at Christmas”, the answer to this
ethical dilemma was revealed. Our head of professional ethics explained
that “supermarkets that operate pharmacies only register sections
of their stores as pharmacies”, the implication being that the other
sections could sell whatever they wanted, presumably including cigarettes. “The
situation Boots will be getting into will be no different to the supermarkets,” she
went on, reassuringly.
Come off it Society! How on earth can we be taken seriously as a health
care and health-promoting profession if we allow the big boys such as Tesco,
Asda and others flagrantly to play the system? Either they are worthy of
having a pharmacy or they are not. If they persist in selling cigarettes,
and this is “allowed” because they can “deregister” part
of their premises, then the rules must be changed. Or is it that the big
boys effectively “make” the rules, as in so many other walks
of life?
Adrian Brown
Southport, Merseyside |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal