Larry Williams Drive

We can be a bunch of moaners in this country, can’t we? Now, from my point of view, that announcement yesterday - which we talked about on the show - that pharmacists may soon be able to hand out a range of publicly funded medicines without patients having to go to a GP first, is a no-brainer. It’s wonderful because we’re talking about low-level medications: Pamol, maybe some eye drops, for fairly common and uncomplicated illnesses like conjunctivitis or head lice. And this isn’t anything new for pharmacists. They’re already looking at conjunctivitis and going, “Oh yeah, mate, that’s conjunctivitis - you need the eye drops.” They’re already dispensing the medications. The only difference is that, if this proposal goes through, they’ll be able to hand out those medicines at the same subsidised price you’d pay if you’d gone to the GP first. You won’t have to buy it over the counter at full price. And the good news - why this really is a no-brainer - is that it takes pressure off GPs, or the EDs, that poorer peo