The RPSGB president’s chains

Nominated by Dorset contractor Mike Hewitson, who says: “The Royal Pharmaceutical Society, long the ambassador for pharmacy, is about to be dramatically reformed. Out with the stick and in with the carrot, as regulation is handed over to the General Pharmaceutical Council. Will the majority of pharmacists miss the old Society? Its approach - sometimes autocratic, sometimes heavy handed – has at times felt like Big Brother (George Orwell, not Channel 4); personally, I’ll welcome a new, supportive body and I’m sure we will all be relieved to have a body of pharmacists for pharmacists.”

A consultation room key

Suggested by Boots pharmacist Angela Chalmers because: “It opens the door to all the wonderful services we now take part in!”
London locum Aniket Parikh would also throw in a copy of the new pharmacy contract, “so people can see how the role of the pharmacist has changed from before”. He says: “That’s probably the major change that’s happened in the profession for a while and that’s when I came into the profession – the change from the traditional role of the pharmacist to now the more consultatory and service-based role.”
We’d add a copy of last year’s pharmacy white paper, too.

A paper prescription

 “Paper prescriptions, whilst not an endangered species at the moment, almost certainly will go the way of the videotape in the next decade – although we have thought this prematurely before,” says Mr Hewitson of
his second suggestion. “Imagine a world without the tyranny of green
pieces of paper!”
The little green form is also a symbol of the £7.20 prescription charge (in England at least) – will pharmacists of the future be horrified that patients were ever expected to pay a fee for vital medicines? Or is it more likely they will be envious of a generation who didn’t have to fork out the full cost of their drugs?

Chloramphenicol eye drops

This little bottle is to symbolise “the age of POM to P”, says Ms Chalmers, which seems particularly apt in the year of blockbuster switch orlistat (Alli). “Simvastatin, sumatriptan… switches have given patients easier access to effective medicines and advice from the pharmacist,” Ms Chalmers adds.

A computer

Nominated by IPF chairman Fin McCaul because: “The computer has aided pharmacy hugely in terms of keeping records of what patients are taking, making labels and being able to give advice and information. I think it’s
one of the biggest inventions for pharmacy.” Boots pharmacist Angela Chalmers would also add the NHS Smartcard: “It allowed us to say bye
bye paper scripts!”

Martindale and the BNF

Despite the influx of technology, several C+D readers named reference books as ever-present elements in their working day and wanted them stored for posterity.“We will all be using the online version when my generation retires from the profession,” says Duns contractor George Romanes.

The cervical cancer vaccine

“I presume when they open the time capsule up in 2159 there may be a vaccine for all cancers,” says Ms Chalmers of this nomination.

An ever-present pharmacist

Another nomination from Mr Hewitson: “A pharmacist in every pharmacy all of the time. Remarkable – our unique selling point as the most accessible healthcare professional is in a matter of weeks to be consigned to the dustbin. With the advent of the Responsible Pharmacist (for the record, I’d note that we have always been responsible, whether we did it or not!), a patient may arrive at a pharmacy that has no pharmacist. Personally, I can’t wait for the ‘Responsible Dentist’ – then I may never have to see one again! History may judge us harshly for the RP experiment, but I guess somebody has to prove it – although I sincerely hope I am wrong.”

A copy of C+D

Obviously we’re biased, but surely a 2009 pharmacy time capsule wouldn’t be complete without a copy of C+D, now 150 years old? We wonder what it will look like in 2159?