Pharmacists have been in the forefront of NFL and we want to hear your confessions
“can we afford the luxury of moral principles?”
“I have taken the NFL pledge and I'm happy for anyone and everyone to know it. It has been hard to stand for this principle and I have had to accept a less than pure policy in our PCT. It saddens me that many health professional and manager colleagues seem unable to see the influence that Big Pharma has. I am even sadder that there seems little alternative but to accept money from companies to support protected learning time events - even though the reps do not pay for the speakers directly and are excluded from the educational presentations, they still have their stands and are busy glad-handing the GPs as they eat their buffet lunch. However, money is so tight that it is hard to argue against this. And the drive from the centre is to encourage closer working. The view seems to be as Sir Humphrey said "Minister, are you sure we can afford the luxury of moral principles?"