Pharmacies: Medicines at Home Debate
Full Debate: Read Full DebateDepartment: Department of Health and Social Care
Lord Winston
Main Page: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Winston's debates with the Department of Health and Social Care
(1 year, 7 months ago)
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Lord Markham (Con)
Absolutely. That is one of the major reasons why blister packs are not always the right solution, because there are many cases of wastage in exactly the way that the noble Baroness has mentioned. Wastage is one of the many reasons why both NICE and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society have come out against the blanket use of blister packs.
Lord Winston (Lab)
My noble friend on the Front Bench is absolutely right. As somebody who is currently taking hourly medication, I can tell the Minister that it is extremely difficult to keep that up. Does he not recognise that we need to have set blood levels for many drugs, and that it is really important that those are not delayed if we are to have proper pharmaceutical action in the blood stream?
Lord Markham (Con)
Yes. There are occasions when it is absolutely appropriate that medicines are packaged in that way; I am sure we all have plenty examples of friends and relatives for whom that is very useful. The whole point is that the blanket application of blister packs is not the right approach.