Variation within community pharmacy. 1. Responding to requests for over-the-counter medicines

This paper explores key aspects of the sale of pharmacy-only medicines in ten community pharmacies in the UK. Marked variability was found between pharmacies and medicine groups both in terms of the proportion of sales made with (and without) advice and the involvement of different members of staff in the sales process. In addition, whilst participating pharmacists stated that they differentially concentrated their advisory activities on customers who were not known to them, we present data which suggests otherwise. Whilst the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain has sought to clarify standards for medicine sales, these findings suggest that the implementation and operationalisation of in-store protocols may need to be reviewed to ensure suitable arrangements for the sale of pharmacy-only medicines. Furthermore, given the lack of research exploring the appropriateness of customers' use of purchased medicines, the significance of current criticism of community pharmacy's performance is unclear.