Editorial

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Welcome to the first homepage edition of i2P for 2012.
In many ways it has been a slow start to the New Year because of having to deal with the “leftovers” from 2011.
One of those items for i2P was that a third-party provider to the site did not advise of a code change to the security section in our subscribe panel, creating a range of frustrated subscribers not able to get on board.
We apologise to all those potential subscribers who were unable to register with us in the second half of 2011, but if you try once more you should have no problem.

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Volume 2012 Number 1

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New Zealand to Fund Pharmacy Clinical Services

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John Dunlop articles by this author...

John has been involved in community pharmacy for most of his professional life. Until he sold up, he owned the busiest pharmacy in New Zealand. He started the first "Dispensary Only" pharmacy in New Zealand which for a long time was the biggest dispensary in New Zealand. John moved on to become a professional services provider through Comprehensive Pharmacy Solutions Ltd (CPSL) as a clinical advisory pharmacist. He holds a range of high profile positions within the pharmacy profession and in 2010 he gained an academic achievement in the form of a DPharm i.e a doctor of pharmacy degree from Auckland University. This degree is a new one in New Zealand. It differs from a PhD in the following way; a) To enter the programme you need a Masters degree in pharmacy with honours b) There is a 'taught year' which requires the student to undertake three intensive research projects pharmacy related. c) Then there is the researched thesis which is a PhD and marked as such, but restricted to 75,000 words compared with 100,000 words to  compensate for the other three research projects. John is the first New Zealand pharmacist to have completed this new degree.

The NZ government has this month stated that it is very keen to fund clinical pharmacy services (undefined). The fact that they recognise we are capable of providing clinical services is a plus on its own, but to consider funding…well!!

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We are obviously moving down an interesting political path. The general practitioner organisations are being leaned on to present themselves as inclusive health provider organisations which means that they need to some how demonstrate effective working relationships with other health care providers. This environment could work very well for those pharmacists wishing to move into clinical roles.

In this country government funding for clinical pharmacy services can be provided directly to the pharmacist either through a general practitioner organisation or a Primary Health Care organisation. There are many buckets of money that are successfully used to fund pharmacists already, and it looks like there may be some more added to the list.

The general practitioner organisations are being pressured to demonstrate that they are supportive of collaborative relationships with other health care providers. They seem for the first time, to be interested in including clinical pharmacists among others in their deliberations which will put some pressure on pharmacy to respond.

If the number of job opportunities suddenly increase we will have a major task trying to find the resource to fill the vacancies.

In addition there has been little planning undertaken to cope with the support mechanisms necessary for those pharmacists wishing to take these opportunities. Support that might ensure that they are being rewarded adequately on the one hand, and being utilised appropriately on the other.

These are interesting times indeed. The new government has a very different approach to health care delivery and is putting pressures on all health care providers to work in different ways. How pharmacy will respond to this environment is anyone’s guess.

Community pharmacy is about to be confronted with negotiations for a new dispensing contract which I suspect will be very different to the one currently in existence. If I read the scene correctly, the push to limit the dispensing remuneration will increase, and now be balanced by a new carrot - funding for clinical service provision.

This environment will be a difficult one for dispensing pharmacies to cope with. Already worn down with compliance documentation and legislative bureaucratic reporting requirements that seem to have taken precedence over serving the needs of the public, they will now have to try and determine how to take advantage of the dollars on offer.

To do so they may need to change the community pharmacy model, and that won’t happen over night.

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