Pharmacists have branded findings from the Which? mystery shopper report worrying and embarrassing, but are split over whether financial pressures are to blame.

LPC secretaries and C+D readers voiced concerns over quality following last week's critical Which? report, which claimed that two in five pharmacies were offering unsatisfactory advice on medicines.

Although the profession agreed on the need to look at standards, pharmacists remained divided on the cause of the problem.

"I think the independents need to be careful about the world we have and make sure they have not got complacent" Nick Hunter, LPC secretary	More on the Which? report Pharmacy defends against report highlighting       unsatisfactory medicines advice The Which? scenarios – what would you have done? Chris Chapman: Which? hunt MORE NEWS
	LPC secretaries urged all pharmacists to ensure their businesses were up to scratch. "I think the independents need to be careful about the world we have and make sure they have not got complacent," Doncaster, Rotherham and Nottinghamshire LPC secretary Nick Hunter told C+D.

Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham LPC chairman Dilip Joshi echoed the comments. "There's always room for improvement," he argued. "We should not be complacent."

C+D readers stressed that the findings could be a result of pressure on resources.

A community pharmacist posting as Pharmacist for Fairness said (s)he had worked at many pharmacies where staff were "stretched to the limit" and expected to train in their own time. "If pharmacists and staff continue to be treated in this way, the results will remain unsatisfactory," (s)he argued. "Given the budget restraints, I can only say that, under the current circumstances, the standards are remarkably good."

The comments were backed by community pharmacist Rajive Patel. "I know it's not an excuse, but could it be that financial pressure is beginning to eat away into quality?" he asked.

But Mr Patel stressed that denial would be "the worst reaction" to the report. "Possibly a wake-up call? I don't know, but at least it will get the debate started and hopefully we can look at addressing these deficiencies," he said.

A locum pharmacist said that the results were down to a more fundamental flaw. "When people argue that this is because of financial pressure, lack of time etc, I believe it boils down to not enough checks being made on the standards of pharmacy team," he argued.

Pharmacy technician Benjamin Leon D'Montigny said he was "embarrassed" by the Which? findings and called for a larger scale investigation across a wider range of conditions.

Community pharmacist Matthew Jacques questioned one of the Which? scenarios, which marked down pharmacies that failed to ask whether the patient was on warfarin before selling heartburn drug Pantoloc Control. Mr Jacques said he was not aware of the combination causing any adverse events and argued that the investigation should have tested a "genuinely significant clinical outcome".

The GPhC and RPS are preparing for a gathering of pharmacy representatives and Which? investigators to discuss the findings in July.

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