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

[Joseph Eisenberg]

I certainly understand that pharmacies provide some healthcare-related
services.

In many countries a pharmacist can recommend and sell certain medications
without the patient needing to see a physician, so they are both a retail
business + a healthcare service.

But amenity=pharmacy is just fine for this: consider that hospitals are
mapped as amenity=hospital and a doctor's surgery (office) is
amenity=doctors.

There is no point in using 2 synonymous tags to map one feature.
We should just use the established tag amenity=pharmacy and deprecate
healthcare=pharmacy

-- Joseph Eisenberg

On Tue, Apr 28, 2020 at 11:19 AM Paul Allen <pla16021 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
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