Editorial

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Welcome to the May 2012 homepage edition of i2P-Information to Pharmacists. Rollo Manning has been having some time out having staples removed from the site of his open heart surgery.He is now at home recuperating in Darwin, having arrived home last Friday, beating a cold and hasty retreat from Canberra.We all wish him a speedy recovery and hopefully, he will be fit enough to contribute by next month.
This month, Pharmedia discusses the toll that is taken when someone complains about you to an authority without good cause. Well, the good news is that you can now take action to protect yourself if such a complaint is made, and that may even include action for defamation. Read about a recent case involving two doctors, with Mark Coleman drawing on personal experience to illustrate.

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GP's Target Pharmacy Ownership

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	Staff Writer articles by this author...
Editing and Researching news and stories about global and local Pharmacy Issues

Following on from calls to government (by the AMA) to allow GP ownership of pharmacies the Medical Observer Magazine  commissioned a national survey of doctors to see who would welcome ownership.
Employing Cedegim Strategic Data the findings were as follows:

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"ONE in five GPs would consider owning or holding a stake in a pharmacy if regulations on pharmacy ownership were relaxed and 42% of GPs believe doctors should be allowed to own pharmacies, with just 24% opposed to the concept.

This follows from a previous report published by i2P, where a doctor group had begun evaluating suitable robotic machines that could be employed in a GP surgey environment.

The US experience of this type of practice has been that prescription medicine choices to fill the machine were based solely on profit rather, than the best choice of drug or brand for the patient, or the drugs were sold at highly discounted prices as a means of attracting new patients.

The AMA calls to free up pharmacy ownership would require government to overturn sections of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement that is about to be signed off.
The AMA also claims that doctor ownership would be more in line with co-located models of primary care.

The Pharmacy Guild has strenuously avoided co-location and has opposed the inclusion of pharmacies within GP super clinics. However, the doctors claim, “If GPs did own pharmacies all this extra value that the Government is looking at [through the GP super clinics] would be released in terms of clinical integration,”

There has been no comment to date by Health Minister Nicola Roxon.

Whatever the arguments put forward by the GP's there is an equal and opposite argument that can be advanced by pharmacy.
Value is also unlocked by equipping pharmacists to become prescribers and access the PBS scheme, particularly in the areas of medication continuance and the treatment of simple conditions.
There is no argument that pharmacists do have the drug knowledge to better educate patients regarding their medications. Even more than nurses, who have already been given prescribing rights.
However, pharmacists have acknowledged their potential for conflict of interest, in that the PSA is proposing the use of skilled pharmacists who do not have a proprietary interest in a pharmacy, and who have the ability to work in a GP super clinic, a community pharmacy or any other suitable environment.

Trouble is, the Pharmacy Guild oppose this concept as well, preferring to flex its political muscles in preference to uniting the pharmacy profession and guaranteeing a future for all pharmacists.

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