So, on my way into work, I popped into the nearest pharmacy to my route into work: a branch of a very large chain of chemists. Here's what I bought:
This turned out to be a particularly disappointing example of what I wrote about in my last post- a very lackadaisical, dangerous attitude to OTC sales. And this comes merely a few weeks after publication of the latest Which? report into pharmacy, and about a week after pharmacy was referred to, by Ben Goldacre and Andy Lewis no less, as a "quack profession".
Now, I'm demonstrably not a parent, but you know when you tell off a child for doing something naughty? The usual response is to stop doing the naughty thing, and act extra-specially well-behaved for a period of time until the original naughty thing is forgotten about, then you start doing it again. On second thought, I know some adults that exactly the same thing applies to. The pharmacy profession as a whole should be in that well-behaved phase right now. We should be pulling together, and ensuring that everyone involved- including counter staff- pulls their socks up, shakes off bad habits, and works to the highest quality, to prove a point, but also just because this is how we should be operating all the time.
So, this morning I shuffled into this particular pharmacy (which I'm sure you have no idea which one it is, given I have so cleverly covered the brand in the picture) and asked for "Some Piriton and some co-codamol". The lady who served me appeared to be an experienced member of the pharmacy counter-staff. Here's how the conversation went:
Pharmacy Lady: "Do you want a pack of 30 or 60 Piriton?
Me: 30
Her: And you wanted paracetamol?
Me: No, co-codamol.
Her: Soluble?
Me: No.
Her: have you got a loyalty card?
Me: No
Her: that'll be £5.34
Me: *pays and leaves*
Here is how the conversation *should* have gone, as a bare minimum:
Pharmacy Lady: "Do you want a pack of 30 or 60 Piriton?"
Me: 30
Her: We've got a cheaper generic version, if you want that?"
Me: "lovely, yes please"
Her: "These can cause drowsiness, mind, so make sure you don't drive or anything when you've taken them"
Me: okay, I wont.
Her: And you said you wanted co-codamol?
Me: Yes.
Her: soluble or tablets?
Me: just tablets is fine
Her: Have you used these before? Do you take them regularly
Me: No, just when i have a headache now and again.
Her: Because of the codeine content, they should be used for no more than 3 days at a time. If you feel you still need to use them after that, see your doctor. They also contain paracetamol, so make sure you don't take any other paracetamol products with them, and no more than 8 tablets in a day.
Me: okay
Her: Do you take any other medication at all?
Me: no, just the contraceptive pill
Her: have you got a loyalty card?
Me: No
Her: That'll be £5.34
Me: *pays and leaves*
That extra counselling would have added on about 20 extra seconds, which might have seemed like a minor inconvenience to myself, but lets have a look at the theoretical consequences of not saying them:
Piriton: Causes drowsiness. I take one, get in my car, fall asleep at the wheel, and have an accident.
Co-codamol: I don't realise it has paracetamol in, and take 2 co-codamol tablets and 2 paracetamol tablets four times a day for a while. I get liver failure, and die a slow, painful, unpleasant death because a suitable liver isn't available for transplant.
Also: I take co-codamol regularly for a week. I then try to stop taking co-codamol, and start getting headaches, and generally feeling awful, so I restart taking it. I am now dependent on the codeine content of it.
Yes, I am a pharmacist, so I already know the potential risks and consequences of taking these drugs. But I wasn't wearing an "I'm a pharmacist" T-shirt this morning, so its not like the member of staff knew this. Just because I asked for the products by name does not instantly mean that I know all about them and do not require full counselling on how to use them appropriately. And yes, I do also know that there is no good evidence that co-codamol is more effective than paracetamol alone, and I know I'm daft to be buying them, before anyone starts with the "aren't you supposed to be a skeptical pharmacist?"- sometimes even skeptical pharmacists like to utilize the placebo effect the promise of a tiny opioid hit provides.
Any of these theoretical problems can-and do- happen to people. We simply cannot go on providing such poor service over the counter and yet at the same time expecting the profession to be taken seriously. This is not safe selling of medicines- this is irresponsible and dangerous, and unacceptable. It makes me pretty angry because it not only gives a bad name to myself, and all the other great, conscientious pharmacists I know, but more importantly because it endangers patients on a minute-by-minute basis.
