Pharmacists

HC Deb 11 March 1963 vol 673 cc949-51

28 and 29. Commander Pursey

asked the Minister of Health (1) how many individual pharmacists, and how many proprietor pharmacists, respectively, engaged in retail trade as chemists, have been notified to National Health Service executive councils as having had their names removed from the pharmaceutical register since 1st January, 1963; and how many are still dispensing National Health Service prescriptions;

(2) by what date National Health Service executive councils are to remove from their lists of chemist contractors the names of unregistered individual pharmacists, and of unregistered proprietor pharmacists employing a registered pharmacist, respectively, who have had their names removed from the register of the Pharmaceutical Society and the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists.

Mr. Braine

There is no requirement so to notify, and no such date is laid down.

Commander Pursey

Why have a number of exclusive brethren who refuse to join the Pharmaceutical Society on religious grounds— Be ye not yoked to unbelievers"— in Hull, a woman in Coventry and three unregistered chemists, employing a registered chemist in Luton, Hove and Chester and five unregistered proprietors in Scotland been allowed to dispense National Health Service prescriptions and sell dangerous drugs to the public and make money from unbelievers?

Mr. Braine

I am not sure that I can give a completely satisfactory answer to the hon. and gallant Gentleman. The terms of service of chemists in the National Health Service require that dispensing of medicines should not be undertaken by an unregistered person. Such a person may not dispense medicine except under the direct supervision of a registered pharmacist. The removal of any person from the register is, of course, entirely a matter for the Pharmaceutical Society.

Mr. K. Robinson

Is the Parliamentary Secretary saying that local executive councils have no responsibility, even if they know that unregistered pharmacists are dispensing in the area for which they have responsibility?

Mr. Braine

Of course they have a responsibility. If any information along these lines is available, I hope that the executive council will be informed of it or that my right hon. Friend's attention will be drawn to it.

Dr. Hill

Is my hon. Friend aware that the pharmacists referred to in the Question are a small group of fully qualified men who have a conscientious objection to belonging to a society and, in consequence, under the Pharmacy Act, are denied the opportunity of earning the living for which they are trained? Will my hon. Friend consider whether the modest amendment in the Pharmacy Act necessary to put this matter right can be introduced?

Mr. Braine

As my right hon. Friend says, a change in the conditions for being on the pharmaceutical register—which is a quite different question from that on the Order Paper—would require amendment of the existing law.

Sir H. Linstead

In so far as there is a delay in removing these names from the register, would not my hon. Friend agree that it is not unreasonable to give these people some little time to put their affairs in order?

Mr. Braine

Certainly, Sir.

Commander Pursey

How can the Parliamentary Secretary try to shrug off this question as if he has no responsibility when one executive council informed an unregistered proprietor that if he did not employ a qualified or registered pharmacist—that is, an M.P.S.—his name would be taken off the list of chemist contractors? In other words, executive councils are helping these unregistered proprietors to get round the law and dispense dangerous drugs when they are not entitled to do so.

Mr. Braine

The hon. Gentleman is making the position a little clearer. No one is permitted to practise pharmacy unless he is registered as a pharmacist. This does not prevent him from employing someone who is registered. It does not seem to me that the executive council has behaved improperly here, but, as I say, if the hon. and gallant Gentleman would like the matter investigated perhaps he will supply particulars of the executive council in question.