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Letters to the Editor
|
Devolution
Update representation of Scottish pharmacy
From Mr I. M. Mullen, MRPharmS
I was pleased to read Dan
Guidi’s letter (PJ, 22 March
2008, p334), which injected some reality into the discussion on the Scottish
Minor
Ailment Scheme (MAS).
As a community pharmacist practising in a significantly socially deprived area,
I was in prime position to monitor the first year of MAS. Although based in
a community with approximately 96 per cent exemption from prescription charges,
I did not find any significant abuse of the service.
I did not have Nadim Ali’s locum experience, where patients presented
shopping lists of OTC items (PJ, 8 March 2008, p273). In that situation,
however, I would have done the same as any other experienced community pharmacist
and
explained that the principles behind the MAS did not allow for patients with
shopping lists, and that the scheme involved a consultation with the community
pharmacist, not the presentation of a wish list.
As chairman of a Scottish health board, I know that the 66 community pharmacies
in my area successfully registered a total of 39,000 patients in the first
year of operation of the scheme. Most of those patients were able to access
free NHS services, without the need for an appointment. The average cost of
the prescriptions involved was around 15 per cent of the cost of a GP prescription,
while the pharmacist was effectively reimbursed by means of a monthly capitation
fee.
The MAS in Scotland is part of a suite of pharmaceutical services that epitomise
the divergence between the Scottish NHS and that elsewhere in Great Britain.
This is only one of the reasons that I advocate a significant change in the
way that Scottish pharmacists are represented by the Council of the Royal Pharmaceutical
Society.
It is undoubtedly time that Scotland was able to make decisions about
professional matters that reflect the issues facing Scottish pharmacists — whether
they practise in the community, in the managed service or in the scientific
branch of the profession.
As we move towards the creation of a new professional body, we must be in
a position to take more control of our destiny and ensure that our particular
national and professional interests are properly represented in whatever
organisation
emerges from future discussions.
This is why I have chosen to stand for Council — to try to use my representative
experience and background to make a strong case for a Scottish solution to
Scottish issues and to avoid having our genuine concerns subsumed in an amorphous
UK compromise. Ian Mullen
Auchterarder, Perthshire
Council Election Candidate |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal