The use of technology has been named as the most important development in the sector over the past 20 years, a C+D reader poll has revealed.

More than one-third of readers voted technological advancements such as the internet and the electronic prescription service (EPS) as the most significant change in pharmacy over the past two decades, in a web poll conducted between July 17 and 22.

Technology received more votes than the new clinical opportunities to have emerged since 1994, named by 27 per cent of 158 readers, and the introduction of a more service-led contract in 2005, cited by 23 per cent.

Pharmacists acknowledged the industry had progressed over the past 20 years in terms of service provision, technology and clinical skills. But they expressed disappointment at the pace of change.

Nick Hunter, LPC secretary for Doncaster, Rotherham and Nottinghamshire, told C+D the pharmacy contract of 2005 had had the potential to prompt larger-scale changes in the sector. "I think [it] was crucial because it was a point where mindsets changed as a result," he argued.

"When we were involved in all the discussions around the contract, we were thinking the world would change in five years' time," Mr Hunter remembered. But "risk-averse" PCTs prevented pharmacies from rolling out services as widely as hoped, he said.

Martin Bennett, owner of Wicker Pharmacy in Sheffield, also lamented the slow pace of change. He pointed out that few pharmacists had taken up the opportunity to train as independent prescribers since the opportunity became available in 2006. The General Pharmaceutical Council currently classifies only 7 per cent of the workforce as independent and supplementary prescribers.

Al Patel, owner of Lee Pharmacy, Lewisham, was also positive about the sector's achievements. He said pharmacists' working lives had "completely transformed" since 1994, when pharmacies did not offer services and dispensing volumes were lower.

Headlines of 1994

Needle exchange schemes and OTC medicines procedures were hot topics in C+D's news pages in July 1994.

• The Royal Pharmaceutical Society announced that each pharmacy must have written procedures for pharmacy assistants to follow whenever a medicine was sold over the counter or a patient requested advice on treatment
• Fourteen pharmacies in east London joined forces to operate a needle exchange scheme
• The Commons Health Committee called for a national formulary detailing all the products the NHS was prepared to buy
• PSNC looked into the possibility of pharmacists receiving payments for giving prescribing advice to GPs.

	What change do you think has been the most significant for the industry in the past 20 years?