The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 280 No 7496 p399
5 April 2008

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• Society elections (2)
• Devolution
• Medication errors
• Children's medicines
• The new contract
• Community pharmacy
• Patient safety
• Responsible pharmacist
• CPPE
• Education
• The Society (4)
• Pharmacy in the media

Letters to the Editor

Community pharmacy

Step into the limelight

From Mr S. R. Malton, MRPharmS

It was with a familiar sense of despondency that I read Nadim Ali’s letter regarding the recent comments of Lord Mancroft (PJ, 15 March 2008, p306). As a pharmacist, the word’s “well all you have to do is get it off the shelf and stick a label on it” are those that I loathe to hear.

I find it somewhat demoralising that my five years of hard work, training to be a member of this profession, can be shrunk into insignificance by such comments.

It raises the issue of the public’s perception of the profession. As Mr Ali says we are “equated with retailers selling tins of beans” by many people. As a profession, I feel that we have a great deal to offer to patients, much more than getting things off shelves and sticking labels on them.

It disheartens me that when working as a locum in community pharmacy, much of my advice is snubbed or ignored by patients. When trying to counsel patients, I often get the impression that many people see it as an unwelcome interruption to their busy schedule, instead of a positive experience that could be of benefit to their treatment.

I find it frustrating that the public seem willing to offer their respect to doctors, nurses and other professionals (even to non-registered practitioners of complementary and alternative medicine) but seem reluctant to view pharmacists in the same light.

Is it the association with a commercial environment that fuels this reluctance or just lack of awareness of the expertise and services available?

I think that the “Ask your pharmacist” campaign is a step in the right direction and I always feel a glimmer of hope that all is not lost, when a patient presents who has been referred to the pharmacy by another healthcare professional or merely thought that the pharmacist was the most appropriate source of advice.

Recent developments in practice, such as medicines use reviews and the increasing clinical focus of the profession, will hopefully help to alter the public image of pharmacy while not taking away from the important role that we already play, but more work needs to be done to improve our public image.

Mr Ali writes that “community pharmacy has lost its soul”. I am slightly more optimistic and still believe that there is hope. There are countless wonderful pharmacists out there who will provide a truly patient-focused service putting profits and targets second, but the our image remains one of a profit-focused businessmen to many patients.

Community pharmacists need to find a way of stepping out of the dispensary and into the limelight in order to restore the public’s respect for the profession and to prevent community pharmacy losing its soul to commercialism and profits for good.

Sam Malton
Harrogate, North Yorkshire

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