The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 277 No 7431 p735
16 December 2006

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· The Society (3)
· The profession (3)
· Methadone dispensing
· CD prescribing (2)
· Dispensing
· Dress codes
· Pharmacy services
· Work breaks
· Pharmacy in Spain

Letters to the Editor

Dispensing

We cannot second guess what doctors are prescribing

From Mr T. O. Tasker, MRPharmS

I must comment on your article about the legal case against Lloydspharmacy and the high court judgment of Mr Justice Keith (PJ, 18 November, p595). As I understand, a hardworking and no doubt extremely busy pharmacist is being condemned for legally dispensing a steroid, well within the dosage range, simply because it was not the same dose as the patient had received previously. I appreciate care has to be taken with steroids, but the logical interpretation would be a flare up of whatever condition the patient was being treated for. The prescription was only for 28 days and this in itself would not, and was deemed not to have, caused the patient any harm. What happened subsequently has no bearing on his decision.

Does this mean that every time a different prescription is received the doctor has to be contacted to check it? This is totally impractical and constitutes, in my mind, a major change in the way we dispense prescriptions. I think that a statement from the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is called for on this matter. It is ridiculous that we have to second guess what doctors are prescribing for their patients when we have no access to medical records, etc. What happens when a doctor increases a dose of one of the patients medicines or changes the medicine? Are we to check then?

I am fortunate that I work in a small pharmacy where I have the time to speak to patients and ask about their prescriptions. But in a large pharmacy where one pharmacist may be dispensing well over 8,000 prescriptions a month surely this is impossible.

Tim Tasker
Ilkley, West Yorkshire

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