§ Mr. Ben ChapmanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the practice among pharmacists of dispensing calendar packs instead of the doses prescribed by doctors. [87014]
§ Mr. DenhamCalendar packs are typically produced for medicines taken over long periods or for defined course lengths. Because the days of the week are printed alongside the tablets, splitting the packs could result in patients receiving partial strips of tablets labelled with confusing and inappropriate assortments of days of the week. It is long-standing practice, as permitted by their terms of service, for community pharmacists to dispense the nearest number of complete packs or sub-packs in situations where the quantity prescribed differs from the quantity in the pack and where, in their opinion, it was not the intention of the prescriber that only the exact quantity be dispensed. We have had no reports that this has caused any clinical difficulties.