[Tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - Deprecate healthcare=pharmacy

[Paul Allen]

On Tue, 28 Apr 2020 at 18:16, Joseph Eisenberg <joseph.eisenberg at gmail.com>
wrote:

Approving this proposal will re-affirm the previous approval of
> amenity=pharma. This will make it clear that healthcare=pharmacy is not
> needed and should be deprecated.
>

All very logical and well-reasoned.  But...

In the UK people are now advised to see pharmacists rather than GPs for
certain minor ailments.  This has come about in recent years to take the
load off GPs (we don't have enough of them).

From
https://www.healthwatch.co.uk/advice-and-information/2019-01-15/should-i-see-pharmacist-instead-doctor
"Your local pharmacist might also offer other NHS services such as smoking
cessation, blood pressure tests, weight management and flu vaccination. To
find out what your community pharmacist offers, just ask them."

A list of services available at some pharmacies in Wales:
https://www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk/localservices/pharmacyinformation/
and in England:
https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/pharmacies/what-to-expect-from-your-pharmacy-team/
These pharmacies are more than simple shops and do more than just dispense
drugs a doctor (or nurse practitioner) has prescribed.

Pharmacists may prescribe independently (with provisos):
https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/education/pharmacist-independent-prescriber
So suitably-qualified pharmacists bear a similar relationship to ordinary
pharmacists that nurse practitioners bear to nurses: they are qualified
(within
the range of their training) to diagnose and prescribe.  That's healthcare.

It seems that some pharmacies may merit being tagged under healthcare.
Of course, this will lead to mappers tagging pharmacies incorrectly, but I
don't think
we can say that no pharmacy must ever be tagged under healthcare, just that
they
should also be tagged under healthcare if specific conditions are met.

-- 
Paul
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/attachments/20200428/b47af0aa/attachment.htm>