Pharmacists and governmental medicine policy

Abstract

No one can deny that pharmacists and pharmacies play an important part in the health of the nation. The pharmacists need to face up to the changes in entrepreneurial needs more than others because of their professional nature and the marketing strategy they need to adopt to keep up with the competition. This group of entrepreneurs due to increase in prescription charges in the last few years had to undertake a close examination of the service being offered, and how it can be improved or changed. This paper investigates the implications of Government's medicine policies and entrepreneurial skills, the business attitude of the pharmacists and the new skills they will need in the future. The present government policy of increasing the real cost of prescription charges and of imposing budgets on GPs is resulting in help being sought by a significant number of patients from sources other than GPs. To take advantage of this opportunity it is important for pharmacists to undertake a close examination of the service being offered, to see how it can be improved and changed. Certainly the government seems intent on the eventual setting of a very high prescription charge which will encourage self-medication in non-exempt patients, and budget restrictions on GPs will help to reduce prescriptions usage in the exempt population. It could also lead to a major role change to ‘pharmacists as doctor’ in which responsibility is transferred from GPs for a range of illnesses and offer an extended range of services.