Comments on A day at the pharmacy.: Naughty pharmacists.

Sorry but who's Matt? I think you may be confusing...

2007-11-25T14:50:00.000Z

Sorry but who's Matt? I think you may be confusing me with someone else...

Oh, but I/we did Matt.

We mentioned it to t...

2007-11-25T13:20:00.000Z

Oh, but I/we did Matt.

We mentioned it to the local health service (whatever they were called before PCT/PGDs)and to the various RPSGB inspectors. This we did many times over a ten-year period. Nothing ever seemed to happen.

I think it is possible to admit it's "dodgy" without being overly concerned. I didn't change my tune, more clarified my position :)

I don't really want to go into any more details on my colleague here (but feel free to email). Suffice to say that the homeopathic prescription incidents were pretty low in the "dodgy goings on" league table.

Further up you said

"Sorry, but I find it ...

2007-11-25T12:11:00.000Z

Further up you said

"Sorry, but I find it hard to get irate about a colleague swapping one inert lactose tablets for another one."

I find it interesting how you now admit it is "dodgy beyond belief....illegal and possibly unethical too"...sounds like you changed your tune...

Perhaps it was the realisation that by giving this idiot's actions a public forum and admitting that you have known about this and his other little 'tricks' for a while without taking any professional responsibility to report it, you have implicated yourself as an accessory...? Or maybe you still think it's an "interesting experiment" to commit fraud? Do you think anyone from Lambeth reads your blog?

You picked on homeopathy as an easy target and ended up tying yourself in ethical knots...gave me a good laugh though and there's not many of those in UK pharmacy these days so thanks :)

Hi Muggy,

Yes, it is dodgy beyond belief. T...

2007-11-21T20:30:00.000Z

Hi Muggy,

Yes, it is dodgy beyond belief. There were dodgy goings on such that I would not even locum there for a day.....my pre-reg tutor warned me off. He also pointed out that it was not acceptable to pretend endorse all Gaviscon Rx as 5x100ml, which was one of their scams.

I see you point about cough medicines. But they do have an active ingredient, Okay, it may not work, but it is still detectable by assay.

I am not sure the GP ever caught on. How could they? Dilution to such an extent means that no molecule of drug would be detectable in either sample.

I assume he labelled as Rx was written, then switched meds to another container? Not sure anyone would be wiser unless they pulled all his wholesaler invoices and compared them with what was dispensed.

I am happy to say that I have not seen a Rx for a hompepathic product for many years. If I got one? Well, that's a tricky one....I guess it'd be easier to opt out and send the patinet to somewhere that stocked it-I see on their website that Boots are big fans of such medications.

OK then what about replacing one cough bottle with...

2007-11-21T18:15:00.000Z

OK then what about replacing one cough bottle with another - we know neither work...indeed the BNF tells us they don't but lo and behold coughs get better.

Also, how on earth does your friend know that no-one has ever noticed his deception? You make no mention of how he labels or dispenses the medicine. If he labels it with the name of the drug on the script and yet uses an entirely different drug for dispensing, this is beyond stupid. If he labels the same as what he gives but just gives a different medicine, then it's only a matter of time before the doctor catches on...

Regardless of whether it is homeopathy or not, this is illegal, unethical and fraudulent. No doubt your knowledge of the crime and yet inaction to stop it or report it - indeed giving it a wider audience it on your blog, will also be of interest to the Stat. Comm when they come to call ;)

It is entirely possible that the patient returns to the doctor no better and a new prescription is issued which is dispensed at another pharmacy - possibly even one where the professional upstanding pillar of the community is actually abiding by the law (there must be a few...)?

Or the patient *does* improve but no thanks to the homeopathy - just like cough medicines and proven 'ineffective' treatments available on the NHS such as rubefacients, etc - what's the problem? Patient gets better, job done. In this case the only issue that remains is the disgusting unprofessionalism (is that a word?) of your friend.

Listen, I'm not a fan of homeopathy and I don't even much enjoy being a pharmacist these days, so I am not sure why this is getting me so excited...it just seems so....wrong!

Off for a lie down...

Hi Muggy-I see the analogy that you are trying to ...

2007-11-11T23:01:00.000Z

Hi Muggy-I see the analogy that you are trying to make. but it doesn't work. He's not replacing one active ingredient with another, is he?

What he's doing, is replacing a tablet with possibly not one molecule of active ingredient with another tablet with the same probability of no active ingredient. The two tablets are, to all intents and purposes identical (and I'm sure a bit of spectroscopy would prove similar)
Presumably that's why no one has queried him over the years.

You are right, it's illegal and possibly unethical too.

I thought it was an interesting experiment, which is why I posted it up. I suspected it'd provoke the reaction it did.

Personally I don't think homeopathics preps should be availble at NHS expense. Then again if eveything was blacklisted that had no evidence base we'd be very quiet boys and girls.

Here's a thought - if you gave ibuprofen for every...

2007-11-11T21:49:00.000Z

Here's a thought - if you gave ibuprofen for every script for an NSAID would you also think that was OK?

I mean the patients with acute inflammation would all get better so who cares if it's Ibuprofen, Aspirin, Diclofenac, or anything else...? Ask your "friend" if he would do that for a few weeks and see what happens....or maybe he could try it with cetirizine and loratidine next time he gets antihistamine scripts...

Disagreeing with homeopathy is one thing (and I am not a fan either) but deceiving patients and professional colleagues is another altogether....oh and illegal, but hey who cares...it's only homeopathy so at least he can't kill anyone or get found out...

What an idiot

I dispensed my first homeopathic thingummy today. ...

2007-11-10T21:09:00.000Z

I dispensed my first homeopathic thingummy today. I suppose you're asking for it really if you work in Glastonbury...

More power to the elbow of Mr Hunnybun's "friend", I say.

Nope, no hero-worship.I just found it intriguing t...

2007-11-08T23:16:00.000Z

Nope, no hero-worship.I just found it intriguing that in all these years nobody had noticed that the hand-picked, professionally chosen,"used for centuries", treatment was not noticeably better than the Rhus tox.

Sorry, but I find it hard to get irate about a colleague swapping one inert lactose tablets for another one.

I'm more irate about the "homeopathy can cure ME" drivel, that was on Radio 4 at lunchtime today.

and dribbling? Please...I wish

Despite your obvious hero-worship and dribbling ex...

2007-11-08T21:39:00.000Z

Despite your obvious hero-worship and dribbling excitement over how clever your 'friend' is, it's a bit pathetic really that a professional could behave in this way, even if it is homeopathic sugar pills (which I am wholeheartedly against and hate with a passion by the way)