Pharmacy funding cuts are starting to dig deep, and many
pharmacies face closure if new, profitable revenue streams, are not found
quickly.
2017 and beyond will be testing times for the community pharmacy
sector, so every opportunity to keep these foundations of the local high-street
alive must be sought.
IS EVERY OPPORTUNITY A WISE CHOICE FOR THE REPUTATION OF
PHARMACY?
The NHS is choosing to stop paying for homeopathic
medications. A long overdue action. Leave homeopathy to the health food
industry. Pharmacy is not into faith
healing.
Comments made by pharmacists and those closely connected to
the pharmacy sector were not very complimentary to the idea of capitalizing on
the sale of homeopathic remedies:
·
Great. Let's do a proper return to the 17th century
and bring back purging and bloodletting as well.
·
David, why are you suggesting this rubbish. The
future of the profession, if it has one, is not in quack remedies with no
scientific basis.
These are strong replies so what is the issue with homeopathy?
What is homeopathy?
“Homeopathy is a natural form of medicine used by over 200
million people worldwide to treat both acute and chronic conditions. It is
based on the principle of ‘like cures like’. In other words, a substance taken
in small amounts will cure the same symptoms it causes if taken in large
amounts.”
For those involved in the homeopathic industry, worth over
£46 million according to a Mintel report on Complimentary medicines 2007,
homeopathy works. The belief and faith in homeopathy can be very strong in
those wishing to use it, but for pharmacy medicine is not a religion.
Pharmacy works with facts and strong evidence. The
Healthy
Living Pharmacy status pharmacies are working towards within the new
pharmacy contract, will strengthen this notion.
Conventional medicine, using evidence based science rather
than anecdotal claims, views homeopathy as nothing more than a placebo, yet
surprisingly has been available through
the NHS for many years. The time has now come, with the NHS running out of
money, to cut back on many peripheral and worthless services, with homeopathy
being one such cut for many
Clinical
Commissioning Groups (CCGs). If homeopathy is no longer prescribed on the
NHS, the over the counter market for such "treatments" will be opened
further. Could this be pharmacy's best opportunity to plug the pharmacy funding
cuts? Should it be?
Plugging the pharmacy funding cuts - the right way.
It is not surprising for pharmacists to refuse to accept this
opportunity with homeopathy. A
complimentary therapy, with little clinical evidence, is not a treatment
option. Real medical problems must be treated by real medicines.
Pharmacists are very highly trained experts in medicines and
to fall en-mass into recommending non-evidence based therapies, purely for
financial gain, violates the pharmacy code of ethics. Luckily for the pharmacy
profession most pharmacists will refuse this option as seen in the loud
responses to the article. Fraudulent medical therapies could put pharmacists at
serious risk, when proper treatment options are not provided and lead to more
serious medical conditions.
One answer has been staring pharmacy in the face for over 15
years....
Flu vaccines? Recently the pharmacy sector has turned
towards flu-jabs as a means to stay profitable with a recent article in
"The Pharmacist" magazine titled "
Fantastic
flu vaccine effort by community pharmacy" waxing lyrical about the
817,000 flu vaccinations achieved by pharmacies in 2016/17 season.
This, however, equates to a paltry £30 profit per pharmacy
per month on average.
Pharmacy needs to look further than just turnover and
service uptake.
Profits now matter a great deal too. Flu-jabs are not the
saviour of pharmacy after all.
So who could be a saviour of pharmacy?
Lipotrim
Lipotrim is an
evidence based weight management programme offered exclusively by healthcare professionals, including nearly
2000 pharmacies, across the UK and Ireland. The wealth of evidential data, produced from audits, has demonstrated the
value of Lipotrim, not only to the patients treated successfully, with
significant weight losses and reduced medication needs, but also for the
pharmacies with highly profitable remuneration.
Lipotrim is replicating this achievement in pharmacy across
the
UK and
Ireland.
Weight management is hot topic with the
National Diabetes Prevention Programme being rolled
out in the UK and a similar programme in Ireland. It is time for more pharmacies
to realise they are in the perfect location, and that it is a perfect time to really
utilise their expertise in medicine and general health, tackling
the obesity and diabetes crisis head-on.
Contact Lipotrim now to request information on how to join
Lipotrim as a patient or a pharmacy
on 0800 413 735 (UK)
on 00353 (0) 1525 5636 (ROI)
or email lipotrim@lipotrim.co.uk
It is very important to note that weight loss is not benign. Many medical conditions benefit from losing excess weight, especially Type 2 Diabetes. It is now well known that the second most preventable cause of cancer, behind smoking, is obesity. Weight loss matters and should not be underestimated in its role in the prevention and treatment of many medical conditions.
