Pharmacists 
fail test set by fake patients

More than two fifths of pieces of advice given out by pharmacists are “unsatisfactory”, research suggests.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th May 2013, 10:04 BST

Consumer watchdog Which? sent a team of 122 mystery shoppers to pharmacies across the UK complaining of various ailments.

An independent panel of experts reviewed the advice given to the fake patients and concluded that 43 per cent of it was “unsatisfactory”.

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Forty-one of the fake patients asked to buy pantoloc control – a strong drug for heartburn.

Pharmacists should ask a series of questions set out by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) before dispensing the product which is known to interact with anti-blood clot drug warfarin.

But the expert panel deemed that 29 of the fake patients were given “unsatisfactory” advice.