Stuart Coverley's News Round-up

More expensive pills

As NfCG Information Officer I was invited onto the BBC Today programme to discuss the new rules on tablets sold over the counter at supermarkets, on petrol forecourts and in small shops.

You will no longer be able to buy packs of more than 16 tablets containing substances such as aspirin and paracetamol. Because packaging costs remain much the same and, from January, each pack will have to contain a medicines leaflet, you will be paying much more for the equivalent number of tablets. I am told that the supermarket tills are programmed to warn the operator if more than one pack of similar tablets is included among the purchases. What happens when a husband and wife need a pack each? Now even the pharmacists are limited to selling packs of 32, though they maybe able to sell up to 100 (32x3) "where appropriate". This is usually where the patient is on their medicines list.

Many patients have been buying their own pain relief tablets in hundreds because they were cheaper this way than paying the prescription charge. The 96 paracetamol tablets in three-packs will now cost them around £2, compared with £1.30 previously. More tablets than this and you need a doctor's prescription and with it comes the usual prescription charge, unless you are exempt. Strictly, doctors are not allowed to give private prescriptions to NHS patients for necessary treatment. The aim of the regulations is to reduce the number of suicides, but few pharmacists seem to think they will succeed.

Petrol prices

Since 1990 the price per litre of petrol has gone down from 15p to 10p and the garage's profit margin from 6p to 4p. Don't gasp, the rest is tax! In that time 5,000 roadside petrol outlets have closed and the supermarkets have more than quadrupled their share of the business.

In fact leaded petrol costs the same as unleaded to produce, it is only the tax that is different. In its review the Office of Fair Trading has again decided that low pump prices are due to genuine competition and not predatory pricing. There still appear to be more than enough petrol stations to satisfy consumer needs, except perhaps in some rural areas.

Whitbread Knowledge

How does a go-ahead firm assess their services against consumer demand? From their annual report: "Whitbread was among the first to do consumer research on pubs and eating out. Our knowledge capital is huge, and our market data second to none. Customer surveys, comment cards, focus groups, mystery diners, usage surveys, exit interviews and consumer awareness scores are the everyday stuff of our business." On team training: "how quickly do people want to be recognised when they go into a pub? How do staff ask whether customers need anything else without pestering or falling into overused clichés?" No doubt they now have the answers.

Loopy Labels

Would you buy "low-calorie" spring water, mandarin flavour, as sold by Superdrug, or Whistler "pure glacial spring water" from the far mountains of British Columbia in Canada? Why ever should we want water that has travelled over 6,000 miles? Also noted by the Food Magazine are Kellogg's "Healthwise" bran flakes, now claimed to be "more nutritious". The ingredients list and nutritional declarations are the same as on the old simple "Wheat Bran Flakes". The quoted price also appears to have remained the same.

A little of what you fancy

'l'he top selling food and drink brands for 1996/ 97 as quoted in Marketing, show only a few of the healthiest choices. In order, the top ten are Coca-Cola, Walkers crisps, Pepsi, Robinsons drinks, Kit Kat, Ribena (7th) and Mars bars (9th). Healthy choices are Muller Yoghurts (6th) and Flora (8th). Tenth are Heinz soups.

What do patients think?

The latest report from the National Consumer Council looks at The NHS at Fifty: What Do Consumers Think? Is the NHS failing those on low incomes? Are patients' complaints ignored or emasculated by those empowered to facilitate them? Perhaps the most important failure is in the dental services where many patients fail to get regular checks, or even NHS dental treatment.

Another report deals with Commercial Confidentiality: a Threat to the Freedom of Information Act and the proposals that would allow public bodies and businesses to withhold too much information on the grounds that it is commercially confidential.

Science & Technology
An important new Network formed.

Networks seem to be a growth area within NfCG. We now have one in the important area of Science & Technology. So often key issues of vital concern to consumers come about by developments in science. So often, too, consumer representatives need to know where to turn to get information and advice on the seemingly impenetrable technological aspects of the subject.

But now help is at hand. Brian Locke, an NfCG Individual member of many years standing will be the Network Leader. He brings with him an international reputation from many years of acknowledged leadership in his specialist areas of innovation, chemical engineering and energy. His own network of international contacts spreads extensively through the worlds of science and technology at many levels.

Readers interested in joining the new network are invited to write directly to:
Brian Locke, Cadogan Grange, Bisley, Gloucestershire. GL6 7AT
Tel: 01452 770 010 Fax: 01452 770058

NfCG now has an enhanced capability to respond to the increasingly complex issues relating to science and technology on which we are being consulted. We will also be able to add our voice to the important efforts being made to promote public understanding of science and technology by the Royal Society. The Royal Institution and the British Association for the Advancement of Science, all bodies with which Brian Locke has close links.

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