Table 5.

Examples of views expressed by pharmacist and public respondents on medicine advisory services

Respondent	Comment	Characteristics
Pharmacist views	There is little connection between prescriber/pharmacist with both MUR and NMS. It would be better with MURs if patients were required to have them prior to a clinical review by GP and then prescriber could undertake their review with feedback information to hand. With the NMS a formal direction to enter the service should be made by prescribers and pharmacists should feed back to the prescribers postintervention	Male manager/sole pharmacist in large multiple pharmacy
	MURs and NMS are now a means for increasing pharmacy revenue, we are hounded daily to do MURs and NMS by head office, we are told to do easy ones that don’t take long, they are no longer about patient’s needs but how much we get for them!	Female locum in small chain pharmacy
	At the moment MUR and NMS very rarely lead to optimization of medicine management and patients often question what was the point of it	Female manager/sole pharmacist in medium chain pharmacy
Public views	Can trust pharmacists more after these experiences. More knowledge – easier access for help than GP	Male, 34 or younger, on no regular medicines
	A pharmacist has more knowledge than I thought and seems more willing to help and is not as patronizing as some GPs	Male, 65 or over, using more than eight medicines
	Pharmacists do a lot more than before, they do not just dispense but they also make sure that I take my medication correctly and ask how I feel. The pharmacist also makes sure that I visit the doctor when I need to	Female, 65 or over, using up to four medicines

Abbreviations: GP, general practitioner; MUR, Medicine Use Review; NMS, New Medicines Service.