Pharmacy is facing a "PR dilemma" and needs to look seriously at how it is represented, industry leaders have warned in response to newspaper reports attacking the profession.

Criticising pharmacy had become "the number one sport", Celesio UK managing director Cormac Tobin told C+D. And Pharmacy Voice warned this week that the profession could expect to be the subject of more negative reports as the NHS became more transparent and journalists started to identify "things that looked a bit odd". 

Their comments were in response to two damning stories that appeared in national newspapers in less than a week. The Mail claimed last Saturday (July 20) that pharmacists were operating a "scandalously careless" system for checking whether patients should pay for their prescriptions.

This came just five days after accusations in The Telegraph of pharmacists being involved in a "prescription pricing scandal", in which prescribed supplements are supplied at inflated costs to the NHS.

"Our industry is suffering a PR dilemma. I don't really know who represents that PR element of it" Cormac Tobin, Celesio UK	Media attacks on pharmacy Mail attack on script-charge checks prompts calls       for review Pharmacists hit back at Telegraph attack over       'inflated costs' GPhC pledges to investigate Telegraph specials       fraud exposé MORE NEWS
	Although those in pharmacy who did "bad things" needed to be exposed, some of the newspaper reports were "sensationalising and creating distrust and worry", said Mr Tobin.

He told C+D that there was a "big confidence issue" among the profession and a pharmacy body should be funded to promote the positive role of pharmacy to the public.

"Our industry is suffering a PR dilemma. I don't really know who represents that PR element of it. [Pharmacy] needs to look seriously at how it's represented," he said.

Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott questioned whether more could be done to change public perceptions at a national level. "Lots of people feel that we could do a little bit more on the public side," he told C+D. "I'd be interested to know what people think about the idea that we need to do something on a slightly larger scale," he added.

Pharmacists also called on professional bodies to do more to promote the sector. Posting on C+D's website, pharmacist Francis Jones said the press seemed to have the profession "in their sights". "Our representatives must work even harder to [get] over the very positive contribution pharmacy makes to the NHS and to the health of the population at large", he said.

Community pharmacist Steve Bear said it was difficult for pharmacy to manage its PR because the profession was fragmented, which made it hard to send out a coherent message.

"GPs and nurses have strong union-type bodies to represent them. Pharmacy does not," he said on Twitter.

How could pharmacy develop a coherent PR strategy? Comment below or email us at [email protected] You can also find C+D on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook