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Letters to the Editor
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Public relations
Obsession with “c” word should be put
in context
From Mr J.-P. Moser
Responding last week to Alan Rogers’s Broad spectrum article, “‘Would
you trust a chemist to check your health?’ We must deliver” (PJ,
19 April 2008, p470), Neal
Patel the National Pharmacy Association’s
head of communications offered some useful insights into the challenges
faced when talking to the national media.
The fact is that when giving
quotes to reporters we can never be 100 per cent certain that they will
be used in full or in context. Equally, no matter how many times we use
the word “pharmacist” or “pharmacy” we can never
guarantee that the words will not be replaced by the term “chemist”.
Alan Rogers is clearly frustrated by the use of the “c” word
but, in my opinion, it should not be seen as a barrier to communicating
effectively
with the media and the public on pharmacy matters.
In all its communications the Royal Pharmaceutical Society is consistent in
using the terms “pharmacist” and “pharmacy”.
However,
for a public that has grown up with familiar names such as Boots The Chemists,
the “p” versus “c” word argument will be seen as largely
irrelevant. When, as a profession, pharmacy has organisations called the Company
Chemists Association and publications such as the Chemist and Druggist,
insistence on use of the “p” word by the national media becomes
a hard point to argue.
The key to changing perceptions about community pharmacy will be to ensure
that the media and public understand the changing role of the profession.
A good example of how this can work to positive effect was demonstrated last
week with BBC Three Counties Radio.
When the station reported on the Society’s hay fever campaign on 14 April
the presenter of The Breakfast Show, Stephen Rhodes, questioned whether the
public could visit a pharmacy without an appointment and get advice on hay
fever or other minor ailments. He argued that this was not in line with his
own experience, and told listeners that he doubted that pharmacists would be
able to provide substantial advice to patients as they would be too busy with
dispensing medicines.
The Society’s PR team followed up this report and worked to change Mr
Rhodes’s view. With help from the Bedfordshire branch, the team arranged
for him to visit Lloydspharmacy in Wigmore Park, Luton, where David Rose, the
pharmacy manager, was able to explain first hand the range of services offered
by a modern community pharmacy.
Fresh from this new experience, Mr Rhodes included a 10-minute pharmacy feature
on his 23 April show, which included a live interview with Graham Phillips,
Hertfordshire pharmacist and a member of the Society’s Council.
The interview can be heard in full at www.digitalnewsagency.com — sign
in under the password and user name “rpsgb1” and go to the Society’s
virtual press office and then to hay fever coverage.
Jean-Pierre Moser
Head of Corporate Communications and Membership
Royal Pharmaceutical Society
Promote profession tirelessly
From Mr A. G. B. Jones, MRPharmS
Neal Patel, head
of communications at the National Pharmacy Association, highlights the
problem pharmacists have when trying to get their message
across in the media to improve the public’s understanding of the
profession (PJ, 26 April 2008, p507).
It is inevitable that, over time, comments will be misquoted, shortened and
used out of context. This is a problem for everybody, not just for pharmacists,
and highlights the need to build up relationships with journalists at local
and national levels to improve the media’s understanding of the issues
that affect the pharmacy.
Our professional bodies need to be relentless with the messages we promote
to the media and opinion formers. We may have heard the messages many times
before, but the general public has not.
Rather than argue among ourselves about how an article has been written in
a particular newspaper, we need to be outward facing and committed to broadening
the public’s understanding of pharmacy and that of opinion formers.
Graham Jones
Lambourn, Berkshire |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal