§ Lord Shore of Stepneyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their response to the introduction by the Co-operative Group (CWS) Limited in their Welcome Store in Stepney of Braille labelling on over-the-counter medicines; and whether they will encourage the wider use of Braille labelling for medicines. [HL1609]
22WA
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)The Government strongly support this initiative by the Co-operative Welcome Store in Stepney which was launched by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Education and Employment on 13 March. By enabling ready identification of important medicines in daily use such as aspirin and paracetamol, this initiative represents a major step forward for safe self-medication for blind and partially sighted people. Solving the technical problems in achieving this will bring benefits more widely, as the initiative is rolled out to Co-operative food stores and pharmacies across the country.
The Government are committed to ensuring that all medicines are used correctly and safely on the basis of full and comprehensive product information. The Medicines Control Agency, in the guidelines to the pharmaceutical industry, encourages marketing authorisation holders to make statutory medicines information accessible for the blind and partially sighted via Braille, large print and audio.