A patient is empowered when they are provided with sufficient knowledge to make informed decisions, given adequate control and resources to implement their choices, and armed with the necessary experience to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of any steps taken in the management and treatment of their condition.

A number of studies have shown that patients do not always view community pharmacies as service providers. Rather, they see them as an adjunct to the patient-doctor relationship. This leads them to:

• Commoditise the community pharmacy service (prescription charges don’t help)
• Focus on the speed with which medicines are dispensed
• Consider the convenience of the pharmacy location (e.g. 24-hour access, free car parking)
• View the community pharmacy as a retail out let for medicines and not as a provider of patient services.