Fine words are not enough
In the run up to the general election, announcements from the Department of Health have ground to a halt, although there is plenty going on in Scotland (p536) and to some extent in Wales (p537). For community pharmacists in England this may be a welcome respite. The pace of announcements during the first months of the year, plus the implementation of the new contract, has left many members of the profession reeling.
One of the major announcements from the Department — rushed out
just before the date of the general election was announced — was
the guidance on pharmaceutical public health. We reported on this in
our issue of 9 April, although The Journal has received comments that,
because of the timing and the manner of the announcement, the document
may not receive the attention it deserves.
This week, a report from Men’s Health Forum, supported by the Proprietary
Association of Great Britain, outlines one area where pharmacists could
play a huge role: health promotion for men (p539). It is often said that
boys and men between the ages of 15 and 45 years do not visit their GPs
from one year to the next if they can possibly avoid it. These men do,
however, visit a pharmacy — for a variety of reasons — including
buying indigestion preparations, which was the focus of the forum’s
report.
Perhaps the most revealing point of the report is the fact that pharmacists
currently do not see themselves as equipped to offer lifestyle advice.
In addition, they feel awkward about talking to customers and patients
about such issues as weight and diet.
This diffidence could be a problem and has the potential to derail much
progress in the Government’s public health strategy. To a certain
extent, these difficulties could be overcome by training. But if pharmacists
do not feel comfortable in providing health education proactively, either
to customers they know well or, more likely as far as men are concerned,
to people they have rarely met before, no number of fine words from any
of the governments will deliver the public health agenda.
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Working together in harmony
Casual readers of The Journal might be forgiven for thinking that pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are barely on speaking terms (Letters p542), despite the fact that the Royal Pharmaceutical Society opened a voluntary register for pharmacy technicians at the beginning of the year. This, of course, is far from the truth, as many pharmacists and technicians working together harmoniously would attest; the skills of one group complement those of the other for the benefit of patients.
The crux of the debate is simple: knowledge and experience are not the same thing
at all and, although in some respects experience brings knowledge, everyone needs
to understand their limitations and thus the extent of their competence.
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