More than three quarters of respondents to a C+D reader poll believe non-pharmacists struggle to manage pharmacy teams effectively.

The survey of 218 readers revealed that 48 per cent felt non-pharmacists could not understand the professional obligations of a pharmacist, while 28 per cent said non-pharmacists rarely made effective managers. Just 24 per cent of respondents said they often did a good job.

One C+D reader, a manager of 28 years who wished to remain anonymous, said non-pharmacist managers often had "no understanding of the responsibilities and ethics of a pharmacist".

"Long gone are the days when every manager and area manager was a pharmacist," he said. "Now it's mostly non-pharmacists who run things and enforce targets."

Some pharmacists have hit out at non-pharmacists' ability to set and manage targets, complaining they tend to be "aggressive and inappropriate"

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However, supermarkets defended the use of non-pharmacists in managerial roles. Asda superintendent pharmacist John Evans said its managers were taught processes to help them understand and support pharmacy teams, with pharmacists "always having the last say" in what was sold. Mr Evans added that pharmacists were professionals and should not accept unreasonable pressure to meet targets – reporting incidents to the superintendent pharmacist if necessary.

And Sainsbury's superintendent pharmacist Chris Perrington said the combination of pharmacists and non-pharmacy managers had been key to its success in delivering MURs.

Responding to the poll results, Michael Holden of Pharmacy Voice said that anyone who managed a community pharmacy team would need "the right skills" and would "always have to operate within the context of a professional practice, both legal and ethical, focused on patient and customer care."

The debate over non-pharmacist managers started earlier this month, as a former Boots pharmacist was suspended by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) for three months after falsifying MUR records to meet her targets.

Although the regulator ruled that Boots had not placed any improper pressure on the pharmacist, she had reported "struggling to cope" with "unrealistic" targets. The GPhC did not hear whether her manager was a pharmacist or not.

C+D readers posting on the message board debated whether non-pharmacist managers put more pressure on their teams to meet targets. "Senior managers who aren't even pharmacists, or have ever been involved with the day-to-day life of pharmacy, practically dictate our profession," said locum pharmacist Rif C.

And community pharmacist Lance Roth said pressure to meet targets tended to be more "aggressive and inappropriate" if managers weren't pharmacists themselves.

But Graham Phillips, owner of Manor Pharmacy Group (Wheathampstead) Ltd, Hertfordshire, said that although he had heard of some bad examples, it was "very easy to vilify every non-pharmacist manager".

"We've got a couple of senior managers in our business who are non-pharmacists," he told C+D. "What I've found is that sometimes the non-pharmacists are much better managers and they've got all sorts of skills the pharmacists don't have."