Weekly Meeting - The History of Pharmacies (Peter Badham)
Wed, Jul 3rd 2019 at 8:00 pm - 10:30 pm
Speaker Meeting (Friend/VOT Martin Odell)
The History of Pharmacies - Peter Badham
Peter Badham runs the Badham’s pharmacies with his wife, Linda, and their son Charles. Peter’s father, Richard, opened his first chemist’s shop in 1940. The business has grown over the years and Peter and his family now operate twenty pharmacies in Bristol and Gloucestershire. Pharmacy clearly runs in the Badham family: three of Peter’s four brothers are pharmacists, as are both his children!
Peter gave us a wide-ranging talk on the NHS and pharmacies. Unfortunately there is only room here to touch on a few of the many issues that he covered.
He started by asking what we thought was a simple question - who came up with the original idea for the NHS and when? We all got it wrong – apparently the NHS was the brainchild of a man called Lord Dawson in 1921 and it was intended to help the injured troops from World War I. The plan was shelved because of the depression and only revived after the Second World War.
He started by asking what we thought was a simple question - who came up with the original idea for the NHS and when? We all got it wrong – apparently the NHS was the brainchild of a man called Lord Dawson in 1921 and it was intended to help the injured troops from World War I. The plan was shelved because of the depression and only revived after the Second World War.
Peter then showed us photographs of their original shop and explained how the offer has changed over the years. In 1940 the shop window was loaded with jars of medicine to show everyone the breadth of their stock. Today, the reverse is the case: customers are encouraged inside to see what is on offer and to discuss their requirements with the staff. When the shop first opened there was no NHS so Richard would undertake all sorts of minor operations as well manufacturing and dispensing medicines. Peter highlighted how things have come full circle – in the 1940s pharmacies were very proactive; they then changed to become medicine dispensing shops; but now they have become proactive again, offering many services in addition to their core function.
These days they have an enormous range of things that they do: from dispensing the morning-after pill, performing blood pressure checks, giving flu jabs, and supervising the consumption of controlled drugs by addicts; to giving out condoms in small plain envelopes. Curiously, Mr Markham pocketed the free samples provided, fond memories no doubt! They also ambush retired GPs (and others) to check they know what they are taking, why, when and how with any side effects noted. This takes some workload off the overworked and underpaid GPs!
In 2018 Badham’s won the Pharmacy Innovator of the Year award for their work on the flu vaccination of Gloucestershire County Council’s staff. The award was presented to them at a celebratory lunch held at the House of Commons.
All in all, this was an excellent talk, well received by all.
Martin Odell
