As a pharmacy assistant I spend my practice in pharmacies. So far I have been to two pharmacies, to a smaller one in a little village (it is part of a GP’s surgery) and a bigger one which is in Sneek. The system is a bit different from ours. In Hungary we get the prescription and we go to any pharmacy. Here the GPs are in touch with the pharmacies. Everybody has to choose a pharmacy, usually near their home, where their personal information (name, date of birth, address, insurance) is recorded with information about what medicines they take and if they are allergic to anything, etc. In Sneek they get some 500 prescriptions, ¾ of these comes directly from the doctor who prescribed them. It means that the doctor doesn’t give the prescription to the patient but sends it to the pharmacy where it is printed and the medicines are prepared for the patient who either comes for them or they are delivered to the patient. If the patient has a chronic illness they don’t have to go to the doctor every month to have their medicines prescribed, they can get their medicines for 3 months. Later the patient can get his medicines from the pharmacy and they ask for a prescription from the doctor later.

I found it interesting that in the small pharmacy where I was it was possible to order the medicines on the internet or on the phone. It is also interesting that the patients bring the boxes back to the pharmacy. The boxes have the stickers that have all the important information about the patient as well as a bar code so based on the boxes they know in the pharmacy what medicines they have to order for the given patient. In the small pharmacy which is connected to the GP’s surgery they only print the stickers and then they give the medicines to the patient.

In the Sneek pharmacy they also have a lab where they prepare creams, suppositoria, capsules and ointments. Similarly to Hungary a pharmacist and pharmacy assistants work in the lab. Pharmacists study for six years and assistants study for three years and their qualification probably corresponds to that of the specialised pharmacy assistants in Hungary.

In the GP’s pharmacy there is no lab, if they need special medicines they order it for the patient. In this pharmacy there is no pharmacist, only the GP. Patients do not pay for the prescription medicines in the pharmacy, they pay a monthly health insurance and the pharmacy sends the bill to the insurance company once a month.

I am glad that I had the possibility to know the Dutch system. I learn something new every day. I am happy that I can go to different pharmacies because this way I can learn more.