Dispensing doctors - the giant awakes

摘要

Many of us will remember the 1980s, when the avowed enemies of pharmacists, and especially rural pharmacists, were the dispensing doctors. At the time, the pages of The Pharmaceutical Journal were littered with correspondence from David Roberts, the then chairman of the Dispensing Doctors Association, and the scourge of the pharmacy profession. Again and again he offered the arguments of patient convenience and the availability of medical expertise to support dispensing medical practices - together with a withering disregard for the professionalism and competencies of the pharmacy profession.