The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7487 p104
2 February 2008

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Empowering patients

Redressing the professional balance

Empowering patients

Costs of medicines are never far from the top of the political agenda and last month the Public Accounts Committee suggested that printing prices on medicines packaging might help reduce wastage. But, as David Pruce, director of practice and quality improvement at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, argued, the reasons for medicines wastage are complex (PJ, 26 January 2008, p77) and a single initiative is unlikely to have a huge impact on the problem.

Nevertheless, a letter in this week’s issue (p118) not only draws attention to the success of such schemes in other parts of the world but also cites a case in Britain where a patient brought an injection worth over £1,000 into hospital and left it behind when he returned home. Once the cost, and the fact that it could not be used by another patient because he had brought it from his house, was drawn to his attention, the patient returned to retrieve it.

It is unfair to admonish patients for not taking responsibility for their medicines if they are not given all relevant information. Any reader with experience of teenagers will be aware that it is not until they have any idea of the cost of their possessions, and the fact that they may be responsible for replacing the items if they break or are lost, do they start to take more care.

Printing prices on medicines packaging is not designed to patronise patients but to empower them. Any initiative that makes even a small inroad into medicines wastage needs to be explored and given a chance to prove its worth.

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Redressing the professional balance

Although relatively few members of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have so far engaged with the discussions about the future professional body, there are signs in the pages of The Journal that some people are thinking about it.

According to Alan Rogers’s estimate, less than 1 per cent of the membership have “bovvered” to send in their views to the Clarke Inquiry, but members like Helen Davis have been sufficiently motivated to turn up to discuss the issues at the inquiry evidence sessions (p116).

Normally, when a consultation period ends, The Journal closes correspondence on the topic but, even though the Clarke Inquiry officially stopped taking evidence on 31 January, we believe that the development of a professional body is of such significance it should continue to be debated.

We are also aware that, although the Society’s activities over the past few years have had a more regulatory focus as the Pharmacists and Pharmacy Technicians Order has been developed, there are signs that it is now redressing the balance and concentrating more on professional issues.

We hope that readers of The Journal will recognise that change in emphasis, too.

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