Editorial
Welcome to the June homepage edition for i2P (Information to Pharmacists) E-Magazine.
The editor’s desk has been vacant for nearly a month to enable a short vacation to happen, and gratefully it has stirred some sort of a revival.
The volume of work unpublished over May will be reorganised and will appear gradually over future editions.
Since resuming “the desk” the pressure has recommenced, but that is part of the job.
This month we have featured Gerald Quigley as he illustrates an evidence-based complementary medicine that helps Alzheimer patients. The product is already helping patients but is being criticised because of a perceived lack of “quality” in its evidence profile.
Mark Coleman has jumped in to point out the lack of quality in mainstream evidence for drugs, and I find it quite appalling that a serial complainer can justify any mainstream evidence as being “gold standard”.
Read Mark’s article under the title of “Research and other Medical Wonders”.
Columns
Dr John Dunlop (PGDipPharm, MPharm, DPharm(Auck), FACPP, FNZCP, FPSNZ, MCAPA): Inside NZ
Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch
Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus
Harvey Mackay: Strategic Thinking
Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about...Recent Comments
Past Editions
Volume 1 Number 1
Volume 1 Number 2
Volume 1 Number 3
Volume 1 Number 4
Volume 1 Number 5
Volume 1 Number 6
Volume 1 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 1
Volume 2 Number 2
Volume 2 Number 3
Volume 2 Number 4
Volume 2 Number 5
Volume 2 Number 6
Volume 2 Number 7
Volume 2 Number 8
Volume 2 Number 9
Volume 2 Number 10
Volume 2 Number 11
Volume 3 Number 1
Volume 3 Number 2
Volume 3 Number 3
Volume 3 Number 4
Volume 3 Number 5
Volume 3 Number 6
Volume 3 Number 7
Volume 3 Number 8
Volume 3 Number 9
Volume 3 Number 10
Volume 3 Number 11
Volume 4 Number 1
Volume 4 Number 2
Volume 4 Number 3
Volume 4 Number 4
Volume 4 Number 5
Volume 4 Number 6
Volume 4 Number 7
Volume 4 Number 8
Volume 4 Number 9
Volume 4 Number 10
Volume 4 Number 11
Volume 5 Number 1
Volume 5 Number 2
Volume 5 Number 3
Volume 5 Number 4
Volume 5 Number 5
Hospital News
Staff Writer: Respected pharmacy managers resign over their concerns for patient safety | open full screen
Health Politics
Mark Coleman: Research and Other Medical Wonders
Neil Johnston: The Call For Unity
Gerald Quigley: What about the Alzheimer’s patient?
Professional Pharmacists Australia Spokesperson: Australian Pharmacists Welcome Removal of the Profession from Skilled Occupation Lists | open full screen
Professional Pharmacists Australia Spokesperson: Australian Pharmacists Say Small Increase In Pay Not Enough | open full screen
Climate Change
Staff Researcher: Splitting the sea: turning ocean water into hydrogen fuelEPublications
The Indigenous PBS List - Who Benefits?
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PDF version | Rollo Manning |
Rollo Manning has experienced pharmacy practice from all sectors of the industry – retail, administrative, policy and remote Aboriginal practice. He spent 10 years with Glaxo Australia and was the first Director of Public Relations at the Pharmacy Guild National Secretariat in Canberra. | |
There are times when one cannot help but wonder who is advising who when it comes to pharmacy and the government.
The much applauded Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) list for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia is a good example of failed program arising from a well meaning policy.
Look at it closely and see that all items are available WITHOUT a doctor’s prescription, therefore available over the counter of a pharmacy and could be paid for by the health service to which the patient is attending.
No doubt before the list came about cost was a reason why patients may have not been placed
on treatment. By putting these items onto a “PBS” list it means the PBS will pay – but at what price?
The following table shows the PBS price to pharmacy supplying and the price at which the items could have been purchased if bought through an Internet pharmacy and no doubt closer to the price at “discount” pharmacies.
The outcome of this program is that Aboriginal patients are able to obtain the medication but at double the cost to the PBS as it would cost if the Aboriginal health service had been able to supply the product directly to the patient.
Too many solutions to perceived problems are in the category of “band aids” to fix a wound without addressing why the wound happened in the first place.
In this instance it is quite simply that Aboriginal Health Services should be able to buy in their own pharmacy supplies and dispense these from an area of the premises that is known as “the pharmacy”.
The fact this does not, and many would say cannot, happen is because the pharmacists currently owning control of the supply function are vehemently guarding their patch and do not want any intruders purely for commercial reasons.
It is time we all matured to a point of putting the patient and health service ahead of vested pharmacy interests and assisted Aboriginal health services to make their dollar go further.
An additional grant to the AHS from the PBS would allow these products to be bought in at a wholesale price and save half of what it is costing now.
In Aboriginal health, as in many other instances of primary health care, pharmacists can offer a lot but this will not happen when personal financial gain is put ahead of improving health.
The slogan Aboriginal health and pharmacists wealth does not mix is true again.
The other sad aspect of this example is that it displays the need for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health to be in the hands of a single agency in its entirety and not having to slot into the numerous silos that make up mainstream policy and program planning.
Given a single agency pharmacy as a whole would be looked at in terms of assisting Aboriginal clients. At present the policies are divided into supply, ownership, professional services and availability of benefits. Some of these are covered by Commonwealth legislation and others by State/Territory based regulation making the task even harder.
For further information contact the author
Rollo Manning, PO Box 98 Parap NT 0804
rollom@iinet.net.au
Tel: 08 8942 2101 or 0411 049 872
Research Reports
Practice Development
Anthony Huxley & Peter Krasenstein: The foundations are more important than the facade | open full screen
Neil Retallick: The pharmacy landscape is changing according to Mark Hooper – and Bob Dylan | open full screen
Chris Foster: The One Reason Why You Can't Ignore Social Media
Kay Dunkley - BPharm, Grad Dip Hosp Pharm, Grad Dip Health Admin, MPS, MSHPA: R U OK | open full screen
Fiona Sartoretto Verna AIAPP: Sartoretto Verna Opens in Malta
Steve Jenkin: Four Disrupting Activities Arriving for Pharmacy
Neil Johnston: Identifying Professional Services - Sexual Health -ChlamydiaStaff Writer: eBay Inc. and Kate Spade Saturday Partner For Interactive Storefronts | open full screen
Kay Dunkley - BPharm, Grad Dip Hosp Pharm, Grad Dip Health Admin, MPS, MSHPA: Tax time – a donation to PSS is a gift to your profession and a tax deduction for you | open full screen
Information Technology
Dr David More: Weekly Overseas Health IT Links to 1st June, 2013.Preventive Medicine
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