COMMUNITY PHARMACY SIRMIONE

Since the Emperor Frederick II decided to separate the profession of pharmacist from that of the physician, pharmacists have been at the service of the public; in pharmacies, your medicines are dispensed and you will receive polite and professional, expert advice around the clock, three hundred sixty five days a year. Pharmacy has always played a central social role in the healthcare service. Pharmacies have often provided advice on the treatment and prevention of disease - and still do - as well as carrying out their basic drug dispensing role; they have always been available to respond to the public's needs. Thus the pharmacist is obviously a reliable health professional who can be consulted on social health problems.
The pharmacist's main task is to act as a communicator, bridging the gap between the public and their understanding of medicines, whilst remaining an integral part of the Health Service. In the new Italian pharmacy code of ethics the pharmacy is described as a "centre for social health and health services". In other words, in addition to its normal medicine distribution role, the pharmacy has increasingly become a place where you can access a variety of services within the National Health System, services which are an important public resource.

For this reason, Sirmione Community Pharmacy is publishing its own List of Services. Our aim is to make the public aware of the number and type of services we provide, to make them aware of their rights and to allow them to express their suggestions and criticisms. Thus they will be able to evaluate the service they receive from Sirmione Community Pharmacy in relation to our own high standards and principals. Our leaflet will thus grow and evolve over time thanks to the crucial contributions we will receive from anyone who takes up this opportunity: it will be a kind of "pact" between the public/users and the professionals, its primary objective being to understand the needs of the population and then provide exactly the right response. In short, the List of Services will be the means by which Sirmione Community Pharmacy really does becomes the pharmacy of all the inhabitants of Sirmione.