by Alexander Humphries*

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been and gone. Amazon, undisputed king of the internet retail hill, announced that it sold 7.4 million items on Black Friday alone. I for one am unimpressed...

Even as a busy pharmacist with absolutely no spare time on my hands, I find internet shopping completely depressing. It is one of the most antisocial aspects of modern life. Rather than going out and talking to another human being, you can sit in your bedroom in your underwear and buy anything. A friend of mine accidentally bought a speedboat via eBay at 3am following one too many drinks (true story)...

So why am I writing about this? Well, because I am a community pharmacist. We probably take for granted the position that we have in our villages, towns and communities but, at this time of the year, we should take a few seconds to think about the tremendous privilege it can be to have someone put faith, sometimes total, in you and what you do.

Forget to care?

Today I saw a lady who was feeling very down as she had been told to stop her vitamin supplements when she started taking warfarin. I spent 20 minutes with her talking about nutrition and diet while taking warfarin, and was able to make some recommendations to match her needs.

Within a couple of minutes I was able to show her some peer-reviewed information which confirmed there was little or no proven risk. She thanked me profusely and left with a smile on her face.

Sometimes I think we are so focused on the health component of the equation that we can forget to ‘care’, as naff as that sounds. In this case, she had been given incorrect information by another healthcare professional, and came to see me solely on the strength of my wordof- mouth reputation in the community.

She wasn’t a patient of mine and had travelled some distance to see me. She had even tried to see me a couple of times when I wasn’t in. It was the chat, a smile and bit of reassurance that made the difference, none of which she could have got sitting at home clicking items into her online shopping basket.

I don’t think that the odd online purchase every now and then is evil, but there is increasing scrutiny of the way that certain large companies (internet and bricks & mortar) behave, particularly with respect to their tax affairs. Where some companies avoid their responsibilities, it can lead to a very unequal playing field for other businesses trying desperately to compete.

A few weeks back I read with interest about a small town in Wales which has had enough of the tricks played by large multinational corporations, and were making a point for a TV documentary by doing the same. Reading this made me laugh, but there is a really serious point about supporting small retailers. Yes, many of them (including pharmacies) need to up their game, but they play a vitally important role in our communities: employing people and acting like the glue which keeps the town together, otherwise it would all be coffee, take-away and charity shops.

While I’ve been writing this I have just heard a customer haggling over the price of Mepore: “I can get them cheaper [than 25p each] online, but I need them today.” As much as I’d love to slash the price by 7p per dressing, what is wrong with people? The internet won’t be there for them when the snow comes, or if the postmen are on strike, or if they run out of medicines.

It is great for some things, but it is embarrassing to have to explain to people why we have to charge more because we have staff to pay, buildings to maintain, electricity, water rates, and all the rest of it. I’ve also just taken a phonemail from a small independent online retailer regarding an order I placed this morning for something I can’t get in our area.

Although one of the products I ordered was out of stock, it showed really great customer service because they treated my order personally. In this case I can wait because it is a Christmas present, but how would my customers react if it was their anticonvulsant? Christmas presents don’t kill you if they don’t arrive. Medicines are different.

Trusted faces

We shouldn’t ‘commoditise’ medicines as something trivial – they are so much more important. Personal service. Care. Location. These are all really important – and they are what all community pharmacies do, every day, and do exceptionally well.

We are the trusted faces behind the places – there all-year-round for when people need us most.

 It is one of the most antisocial aspects of modern life

* Pen name of a practising community pharmacist. Alexander Humphries’ views are not necessarily those of Pharmacy Magazine. Is the internet damaging community pharmacy? Email pm@1530.com