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"Ever had a day when work is a grind and yours is the last car in the car park to leave?
Where everywhere you look there are unfinished jobs, HIC claims awaiting attention and tomorrow is just hours away?
At these times you don't have enthusiasm to spare.
That is why, in order to spare you my bad humour, I have asked my Pharmacist daughter, currently managing in the UK, to write this months article for me.
Her bright personality and abundant good humour are evident.
Enjoy."

Earlier this year I followed the well trodden path of young Australian pharmacists to England to gain experience of the world and to take advantage of the wonderful combination of a current pharmacist shortage and a weak Australian dollar.
So far, the adventure has been everything it was supposed to be.
I have been meeting new friends, sightseeing and gradually growing to feel like an 'insider' rather than a tourist.
From a professional point of view however, I am still amazed both at the differences and the similarities in the practice of pharmacy in England and Australia.
As I had undergone my preregistration month working as a data entry operator in the cavernous basement pharmacy of a large city hospital, my first experience of community pharmacy in England was a three day crash course given by an entirely disinterested locum.
After that, I was left to fend on my own.
I soon discovered that doctors can write prescriptions for virtually any item and in any quantity that they want.
The only banned items are those listed on a 'black list', but they can often get around this restriction by prescribing the item generically as the 'black list' is mostly in brand names
The biggest problem with a system where one prescription can be for six months treatment or more at once, is knowing how much stock to keep.
The solution to this has been to keep the most common medications in bulk pots.
An Australian pharmacist with a few more years experience than I, may recall a time when tablet counters were an essential item in the dispensary, but in my short years of practice in Australia blister strips and patient packs are the only packaging I have known.
Of course, now I'm the fastest tablet counter this side of the hemisphere!
I also save some time by not doing any extemporaneous dispensing.
These are contracted out to 'specials' manufacturers, as the threat of litigation is too great for any pharmacist to bear (all those years of pharmaceutics labs wasted!).
However, for all the small differences in procedures, the common issue is how pharmacy can evolve to remain essential for healthcare in the 21st century. Both England and Australia have come up with the same ideas for salvation such as forward pharmacy, specialisation and better cooperation between all health providers.
They are also coming up with the same excuses as to why they won't work.
A quick perusal of the letters page of the British Journal of Pharmacy reveals exactly the same complaints as those in any Australian Journal. "I don't have the time...I already have too many responsibilities...I'm going to retire soon so I just don't care...I don't have enough experience...who is going to pay for it?". Personally, I feel that Australia is starting from a stronger position as, in my experience, pharmacists are more commonly seen by Australians as a first port of call for minor health related questions or medication queries.
Whereas the British, who are able to see a doctor for free regardless of their financial status, are more likely to go to the doctor first and to regard the pharmacist as just the person who gives them their pills.
I know which type of pharmacist I would rather be, even if I'm not sure what pharmacy of the future will be.
That is why, once the travel bug is out of my system, I'll be heading home to greener pastures.

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Stephen Rogers (and Daughter)

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