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Letters to the Editor
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Supermarket pharmacy
Position regarding alcohol sales
From Mr K. M. J. Tull, MRPharmS
I received a telephone call recently from a locum who wanted to clarify
the position of sales of alcohol through a pharmacy till in a supermarket.
The manager of the store was insisting that alcohol be sold through the
pharmacy till to aid congestion at the other tills. The locum deemed
this not to be professional and rightly questioned the order. I told
him my version of what I have instilled in my pharmacy operation, which
is that the alcohol licence is held by the store manager for the store.
However the pharmacy is a registered premises within that store and thus
the tills are registered to the pharmacy premises. Therefore, the pharmacy
does not possess an alcohol licence and may not, therefore, put alcohol
through its tills. This argument seems logical to me. I also stated that
I do not deal with fresh meat or fish products either as this could contaminate
my pharmacy area.
On further investigation of “Medicines, ethics and practice” (no
30, July 2006), I could only find a reference to alcohol sales in “Part
3, Service Specifications, Stock” (p93), which stated the following: “Pharmacists
must not purchase for sale on registered pharmacy premises any product
which may be injurious to public health or bring the profession into
disrepute. This includes tobacco products other than nicotine replacement
therapies, alcohol and products intended to mask signs of alcohol or
drug addiction.”
Unfortunately this statement is flawed when applied to a supermarket
pharmacy because the pharmacy has not bought the alcohol but is being
forced to sell it on their premises. I can see that the above statement
has been written with the correct intent of restricting alcohol sales
from a pharmacy but it only applies if the pharmacy buys the alcohol
in the first place. Therefore there is a loophole that needs to be closed
rapidly. I would be grateful for advice on the correct procedure for
dealing with such sales.
J. Tull
Secretary
Herefordshire Local Pharmaceutical Committee
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LYNSEY BALMER, head of professional ethics, Royal Pharmaceutical Society,
replies:
As Mr Tull highlights, the Code of Ethics and Standards states
that pharmacists must not purchase for sale on registered pharmacy
premises any products, such as alcohol, which may be injurious to health
or bring
the profession into disrepute. In stating that pharmacists must not
purchase alcohol to sell on registered premises, it is intended that
alcohol should
therefore not be sold from registered pharmacy premises. A view that
it is ethical to sell alcohol from registered premises, provided the
alcohol
has not actually been purchased for sale from the premises by a pharmacist,
is contrary to the spirit of the Code of Ethics requirement. The Code
of Ethics and Standards is currently being reviewed and the requirements
relating to the sale of alcohol from registered pharmacy premises
will be considered as part of the review process.
Any pharmacist who assumes responsibility for a pharmacy premises,
whether as an employee, locum or otherwise, is professionally accountable
for overseeing
the activities carried out from that premises while he or she is in control.
When assuming this responsibility, a pharmacist is expected to use his or
her professional judgement to determine whether a transaction should
proceed and
must be prepared to justify their decision. Pharmacy owners and superintendent
pharmacists have a professional responsibility to ensure the observance of
all legal and professional requirements in relation to pharmaceutical
aspects of
the business, and must not seek to impose conditions on pharmacists which
may adversely affect their ability to comply with their professional
and legal duties.
If a pharmacist is being pressured by a non-pharmacist member of the management
team to take a course of action that he or she does not believe to be appropriate,
the pharmacist should in the first instance confer with the area or regional
pharmacy manager or superintendent pharmacist, or both. |
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The
Pharmaceutical Journal