[OSM-talk] Pharmacies / dispensing tag?

[Calum Polwart]

On Wed, 2007-02-28 at 14:31 +0000, Tom Hughes wrote:
> In message <504206D8-E584-43D9-ADEA-B04194DBA627 at remote.org>
>         Frederik Ramm <frederik at remote.org> wrote:
> 
> >     could someone from the UK perhaps give some details about the  
> > differences between "dispensing" pharamcies and "non dispensing"?  
> > Perhaps by simply updating the map features page. I don't think that  
> > a similar distinction exists in Germany but I cannot say for sure  
> > until I know how you use these tags ;-)
> 
> A dispensing pharmacy will have a qualified pharmacist who can
> dispense prescription only medication.
> 
> A non-dispensing pharmacy is a store which sells medical type
> things, but only non-prescription ones such as you might be able
> to buy in a supermarket or whatever.

OOOH... as a UK pharmacist this is WRONG.  It is illegal to term
anything a pharmacy that isn't legally registered as a pharmacy. The UK
definitions should be:

'Health Store'  call them what you like as long as its not pharmacy or
dispensing chemist they are both legally protected titles.  This covers
your shops selling healthcare products within the General Sale List
(i.e. things you can buy in a supermarket, garage etc.)  Much of Europe
doesn't allow any medicine (even Paracetamol) to be bought in anywhere
other than a pharmacy.  I'm not entirely clear why these would be marked
on a map when say a news agent wouldn't.  (I could live with Drug Store,
which I think is possibly the US equivalent, but I think the term is
misleading.)  Effectively these are shops which sell cosmetics,
toiletries and a few 'safer' medicines.  Otherwise every supermarket
should be flagged Non Dispensing Chemist...  The Pharmaceutical Society
has prosecuted people in the past for using the wrong title and refusing
to change - this could be problematic if you call these a pharmacy.

A DISPENSING PHARMACY would probably be generally perceived as one with
an NHS contract to dispense FP-10 prescriptions (That's the standard
green prescriptions you get from a GP).  There MUST be a pharmacist
on-site.  Premises must be registered with the Pharmaceutical Society.

A NON-DISPENSING PHARMACY *might* be a term used to indicate a
registered pharmacy that doesn't have an NHS contract.  Generally
speaking these are rarer, but there are some where the shop opened and
couldn't or hasn't yet got a contract.  They can dispense PRIVATE
PRESCRIPTIONS and sell things Over the Counter (Known as Pharmacy Only
Medicines).  They MUST HAVE a pharmacist on site.  So Non-Dispensing is
also misleading as they will dispense... just not an FP-10 (or at least
not for free!).  

It would actually be easier to flag these as NHS and Non_NHS I realise
that's very UK specific, but the NHS flag could apply to any NHS site.
As an NHS employee that could be very useful ;-).  I guess the NHS
licences a lot of mapping - perhaps there is some opportunities for them
here?

> 
> I'm not sure what the story is with over the counter medication
> actually - you don't need a prescription for that but I think
> there probably does have to be a qualified pharmacist for them
> to sell it, so you would need a dispensing pharmacy for that.
> 
> Tom
>