REGARDING the article in the Guardian about prescription services.

It is both factually incorrect and a blatant free advert for a national organisation which would be happy to see local pharmacies put out of business.

The headline itself is the most misleading in that the e-prescription service in Northwich has been in existence and working well in local pharmacies for at least 12 months now so that it can hardly be proclaimed as “news”.

It should also be pointed out to anybody who would like to change from using a local pharmacy that a national organisation used postal services for delivery.

Whilst the postal service is very reliable it is a fact that at least 90 per cent of prescriptions are too large to pass through any letter box and it requires knocking on the door to complete the delivery.

Should the customer not be in or unable to answer the door then he/ she would have to visit the local mail sorting office to collect the package whereas all local pharmacies are willing to re-deliver.

In addition any package that is small enough to post is very vulnerable to attack and be damaged by dogs in the house (some 33 per cent of houses seem to have dogs).

Apart from this, local pharmacies, particularly those opening late, are able to offer an emergency service which is not available by postal system.

It should also be noted that no organisation is perfect (even local pharmacies!) but if a mistake is made by a pharmacy this can be corrected in a very short time compared to a postal service.

Local pharmacy drivers have an intimate knowledge of their customers’ requirements and very often know about special arrangements for delivery which could mean such as going to the back door, special arrangement with neighbours, phoning first, etc.

Finally local pharmacy drivers can take back old and unwanted medicines for safe disposal at no cost to the customer.

At the end of the day it is the decision of the customer who they choose to make the deliveries but I feel you should make your readership aware of the significant differences that the services offer so that they can make a fully-informed decision, not one based on scanty and incorrect “facts”.

A pharmacy driver