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Pharmacy has to remain focused on increasing the quality of the OTC medicines advice it provides to customers, otherwise future mystery shopping exercises will prove as damning as they have in the past, the head of the GPhC has warned. Report by Asha Fowells 

Speaking at a recent event co-hosted by the General Pharmaceutical Council and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, Duncan Rudkin said that changes were being made across the sector to improve the information that patients receive when requesting OTC products, but he cautioned: €The fear is that Which? will go back and find the same thing... We mustn't lose sight of what we are trying to make better.€

The seminar was arranged to provide an opportunity for organisations and individuals to share the progress they have made since last year's Which? investigation highlighted wide variations in the advice provided by pharmacies.

The sector needed to treat the adjustments that were being made as €a very long-term project€, said Mr Rudkin. While the push for improvement had stemmed from a reaction to a problem brought to light by Which?, it was important that community pharmacy had a positive vision of what it was trying to achieve. €We also need a guiding coalition, which is a critical mass of people committed to realising that vision.€

Challenge

Mr Rudkin's comments were in line with those made by new PAGB chief Matthew Speers, who said that improving medicines' advice was crucial to the direction of the NHS. €Self-care is not just about minor ailments, it is also about wellness and long-term conditions... This is a challenge that needs addressing by the profession.€

Mr Speers said there was a need for consistent messaging across primary care. Situations such as a patient seeking advice as directed by a product information leaflet because their symptoms persisted for more than three days, but then being told by the GP that the normal course of the condition is up to a week, only caused confusion, he said. 

This is all about frontline staff. They must change

Change needed

Elisabeth Paice, the seminar chair, highlighted the importance of those who are the first point of contact for pharmacy customers. €This is all about frontline staff. They must change to make a difference. Too much has been put on the shoulders of the strategy makers.€

However Professor Paice, who is chair of the integrated care management board at NHS North West London, said the buck didn't stop at pharmacy support staff. €We need a multi-professional, inter-professional approach,€ she said, suggesting GPs, nurses, hospital consultants and ambulance staff as examples of the groups that community pharmacy needed to work alongside.

Patient representatives at the event drew attention to issues that pharmacists and their staff might overlook in their quest to provide quality information on OTC medicines. The need for privacy, particularly for older people who often felt uncomfortable discussing health issues in front of a shop full of people, was a point that was returned to a number of times, as was the lack of continuity in staffing, especially with regards to pharmacists in certain multiple branches.

The industry did not escape criticism for the apparent lack of interest in providing large print versions of product information leaflets.

However, patients also have a role to play, suggested Independent Pharmacy Federation chair Fin McCaul. The public has an expectation that they will be dealt with quickly so can be disinclined to be questioned, sometimes viewing sales protocols as €an interrogation€, he said. This, in turn, could result in pharmacy staff feeling hesitant about asking questions when selling OTC products, for fear that customers will complain about the time it takes and the nature of the questions, he added.