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 people often have to go to first if they want medication for cheap or for free.

And secondly, it saves time for patients. They don’t have to go through all the faff of booking and attending a doctor’s appointment first.

So who would moan about this?

Let me tell you who: GenPro. GenPro’s moaned about it - the GP advocacy group. They’re warning that this runs the risk of misdiagnosis because maybe a pharmacist might look at conjunctivitis and say, “Oh look, it’s a pus-y eye, here are some eye drops,” without realising it’s actually caused by an ear infection.

But please remember: these are pharmacists who are already making these calls. The only difference here is what you pay for the medication. So any misdiagnosis they’re worried about may already be happening.

So why are they really moaning about this?

I’ll tell you why. GenPro knows this will take pressure off GPs - and that undermines what they actually want. They want GPs to stay under pressure so they can complain about GPs being under pressure, so they can argue for more money for overworked doctors.

Frankly, they should just be honest about that. They may well have a decent argument to make - I suspect they do - but they won’t convince many people with a straw-man argument.

Right now, they just sound like a pack of moaners dumping on a really good idea.

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