Mud, mud, glorious mud

摘要

There was a bit of mud-slinging on the airwaves earlier in the week: quoting The Telegraph, Radio 4's Today programme said Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of General Practitioners, had berated the Government and pharmacists for supplying influenza vaccine privately when some GPs had run out. She added that there should be legislation in place to prevent this. Various pharmacy bodies responded, pointing out it was the responsibility of GPs in England to order sufficient supplies — and if their calculations were inaccurate, pharmacists should not be blamed. In addition, they said, in Scotland, where procurement lies with pharmacists, there had been no similar shortages (p33).