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Letters to the Editor
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Elections
Can we expect change?
From Mr M. F. Rahman, MRPharmS
Four years on and we have reached the time for another general election.
What can we expect of the candidates who want our vote this time? Will
we get more lip service from the main parties on how they value the contribution
that pharmacists make to the NHS and the health of the nation (no pun
intended) and on how they see the role of the pharmacist evolving over
the next few years?
All well and good, but this is happening at the same time that pharmacy
as a profession is being undermined. Yet again we have been excluded
from something important, namely the review committee that was announced
last month (PJ, 26 March, p349). We are not going with the flow; instead
we are been swept on our current course by Whitehall officials who, keen
on cutting costs, are looking to get something for free from us.
Large-scale pharmacist prescribing is still in the pipeline, yet nurses
have been doing it for years. Why have we been left out? As for e-prescribing:
is this not a case of trying to run before we can walk? The computer
systems in many pharmacies, including some large multiples, are archaic.
How can this system be implemented without massive investment? GPs can
get money for new computers. I cannot see the Government footing the
bill for any upgrades in pharmacy. Again the average independent pharmacist
will have pay his own way.
Can we expect the new Government to take a greater interest in pharmacy
and can we expect the new Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society
to pay a more proactive role in our futures?
Fazal Rahman
Walsall, West Midlands
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal