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Letters to the Editor
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The profession
Let us be judged on something worthwhile
From Mr S. P. Bullock, MRPharmS
One day recently I spent almost half an hour trying to placate a customer.
She had, she avowed, no intention of ever using our pharmacy again and
would do her level best to ensure that none of her friends, neighbours
or indeed anyone she had ever known did so either. What grievous misdemeanour
had we committed? The photographs of her daughter’s wedding had
been delayed at the processor. And I am — quite rightly perhaps
since I will make a profit from the deal — to be held to account.
I am, you see, a high street chemist — a shopkeeper. And so, in
an age where all retailers are ruthless profiteers and the consumer is
king, I am, in this customer’s eyes at least, deemed to be beneath
contempt.
The next day I spent two hours with an elderly woman. I had access to
her full medical history and at the end of our time together I made a
clinical assessment and wrote her a prescription, having agreed with
her GP to take responsibility for her medication for the next six months
as a supplementary prescriber. The rest of the day was spent reviewing
lipid-lowering medication for patients of a local medical practice with
a view to reducing unnecessary expenditure without compromising clinical
outcomes.
One pharmacist, two days’ work, but what different days! Is it
really any wonder that there is a recruitment crisis in community pharmacy?
Some 25 years ago I proudly wrote “MPS” after my name for
the first time. It said in The Journal that the profession was at a crossroads.
Like so many young people I thought the world was for the taking and
that every GP in town would be keen to benefit from my wisdom. Iatrogenic
disease would be a thing of the past.
Of course, it did not happen. The cold wind of reality blew and chilled
me into a state of professional torpor. We counted tablets and put labels
on boxes. We sold cuddly toys and hair ornaments to make ends meet. In
the meantime Nuffield came and went and we had Pharmacy in a New Age
and other studies, which urged that the NHS should make better use of
us.
And now, in 2005, we have a new contract with the NHS. Finally, somewhere
in Whitehall the penny has dropped. It is different. It is new, and a
bit scary for some. We are going to have to engage with primary care
trusts but, unusually for NHS bodies, they seem want to talk to us. They
want to look at new ways of delivering services and they are asking us
to tell them what we have to offer. It looks as though there will, unfortunately,
be some losers but, for the majority, the new contract is perhaps the
best opportunity we have ever had to prove our worth and to show what
we are capable of.
Of course, like any professional we have to give people the services
they want and need but, for goodness sake, let us make sure we are judged
on something a little more worthwhile than the speed of our photo-processing
or the price of our hot water bottles.
Steve Bullock
Burton-on-Trent,
Staffordshire
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal