A Respectable Occupation: - University of Hertfordshire Research ...

the patients pure drugs, as it was to get a competent doctor to diagnose. 81
But the pharmacists were still not convinced. The only solution acceptable
to them was to have the Bill amended to include their demands.
The Pharmaceutical Society organised a meeting at the Holborn
Restaurant on 6 July 1911, when 1000 pharmacists from all the major cities
in the country were present. The required amendments were put to them,
including the two critical ones: that the supply of medicines to insured
persons be made only by those firms and bodies carrying on the statutory
business of a chemist and druggist under the Poisons and Pharmacy Act
(1908). Additionally, the dispensing should be performed by, or under the
direct supervision of a pharmacist. 82 The meeting carried the proposed
amendments almost unanimously. 83
The Pharmacists also had the support of the doctors at this stage. At
a meeting of the Standing Joint Committee of the British Medical
Association and the British Pharmaceutical Conference on 15 June 1911,
issues of mutual interest concerning the National Insurance Bill were
discussed. The outcome was that on 5 July 1911, the Council of the British
Medical Association passed a number of resolutions, including one that
upheld the principle that dispensing should be performed only by
pharmacists and doctors. 84 The British Medical Association was also on
record as saying that the suggestion of cheap dispensaries run by approved
81 „National Insurance Bill‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, series 4, 87, 33, (14 Oct. 1911) 496.
82 „National Insurance Bill Mass Meeting of Pharmacists in London‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 87, 33, (8
Jul. 1911) 59 and 63.
83 „National Insurance Bill Mass Meeting of Pharmacists in London‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, 87, 33, (8
Jul. 1911) 63.
84 „British Medical Association and British Pharmaceutical Conference‟, Pharmaceutical Journal, series
4, 87, 33, (8 Jul. 1911) 36.
312