Why has Swissmedic decided to launch an enquiry team?
Therese: "The enquiry team has existed since the Therapeutic Products Section of the FOPH was merged with the Intercantonal Office for the Control of Medicines (IOCM), i.e. when Swissmedic was created. At that time, all queries used to arrive by letter, fax or phone. Each query was also printed out and archived very neatly in suspension files …"
Pia: "Even when the pandemic appeared, up to 30 per cent of all enquiries were still dealt with over the phone. Now, almost everything is processed in writing – usually via e-mail."
Is there what you might call a typical query, one that keeps cropping up?
Barbara: "There is no SINGLE query. But we frequently receive questions about side effects or topical issues that prey on people’s minds."
Miro: "This currently applies, for example, to the new regulations on in vitro diagnostic medical devices."
Danila: "And we repeatedly receive questions that have nothing to do with us. For example: relating to the price of medicines or why the health insurance fund is not paying for their medicines. Again and again we have to explain to people what we are actually responsible for under the therapeutic products legislation – and particularly about subjects where Swissmedic does not have a legal mandate."
What times of day or what days are the busiest?
Therese: "Work is most frenetic whenever there are major changes or legislative revisions – then we don’t get a minute’s peace. E-mails arrive in their droves, some sent in the middle of the night; we always have to keep on the ball."
Danila: "There’s something else that we’ve noticed: On public holidays and bad-weather days, people have time to write to us. Of course, the influence of the media also plays a part: when a subject becomes controversial or a hot topic, you notice it immediately."
"Serial grumblers fortunately tend to be the exception."
Barbara Beetschen
What kind of people get in touch with you?
Barbara: You can’t reduce it to a single common denominator – it’s more like a random cross-section of people: ordinary citizens, specialists from companies, pharmacists, enquirers from abroad or, from time to time, serial grumblers – but fortunately the latter tend to be the exception."
Miro: "I deal with medical devices, where the client base differs significantly from those enquiring about medicinal products. I hardly receive any queries from consumers. Rather, those who contact me are typically professionals working in hospitals, law firms, the FOPH or opticians."
Pia: "I take it as a compliment when people turn to us. It shows just how important Swissmedic is as an institution – and how broad a range of themes it covers."
Have any of you ever lost your cool?
Pia: "That was more likely to occur when some of the enquiries arrived by phone. Sometimes we have to make it clear to people that we can’t help them because their question is outside our remit. Some receive this news better than others. It’s normal that some people just want to get things off their chest and talk or write about their frustration, but these only account for a small fraction of the whole, and we’ve learned how to handle such situations."
Therese: "Some people also compose an enquiry and then send it to all the authorities that might be relevant …"
Do you collect enquiries and then answer them with specialists at a later date?
Miro: "We’re able to answer almost half of all the enquiries ourselves – the rest involve specific questions that have to be answered by specialists. Sometimes we first have to find out what division is responsible for a particular enquiry."
Danila: "We work with the specialist divisions to produce text modules and answers – that’s a great help, particularly when a flood of enquiries arrives."
Pia: "And for some enquiries we can also refer to our website."
"Dealing with information that involves several sectors at the same time is our most challenging task."
Therese Fuhrer
