Editorial
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.
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Volume 2012 Number 1
Health Politics
Neil Johnston: Friends of Science in Medicine
Peter Sayers: Confessions of a Frustrated Pharmacist
James Ellerson: $75.5 million in 5CPA lying idle. Why is it so?EPublications
Pharma-Goss - With Rollo Manning -March 2010
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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. | |
Pharmacies in doctor’s surgeries The reaction to the AMA proposal for a pharmacy to be in a doctor’s surgery provoked the usual rhetoric from the Guild to the expectantly waiting profession of pharmacy business owners. It is as if the question of ownership is what it is all about and the consumer of doctor or pharmaceutical care does not get a look in. Who cares who owns the pharmacy business? No body knows at any rate. On a recent visit to the National Capital this writer asked of a pharmacy assistant “who owns this pharmacy?” and the reply came back “Mr Bloom owns it”.
Now really isn’t this excitement that occurs when anyone mentions a pharmacy being placed anywhere but where the Guild wants it all about protecting the incumbent owners. After all that is the Guild’s job isn’t it?
It is about time pharmacists stepped beyond the NIMBY syndrome and moved with the consumers to wherever the service will have the best effect for their health.
When the “conflict of interest” theme comes out it sends this writer into a spin – what greater conflict of interest is there than the Guild negotiating with Government the multi billion dollar compensation pharmacy business owners are going to get for the next five years from the PBS.
If the first item on the Agenda when Messrs Roxon and Sclavos sit down to finally negotiate a Community Pharmacy Agreement was “Any declarations of conflict of interest” the Guild would be out.
And as for the doctor being influenced into prescribing something they may make more money out of - well get real. This has been happening for the past century in pharmacy when the product of best fit is recommended because of the profit being made.
The old rhetoric has to go and in its place a Charter for Consumers in Pharmaceutical Care with the best scenario to improve health at the top and the one most likely to make money for the incumbent business owner at the bottom.
Now the cries will come that we need a viable pharmaceutical retail sector to support the PBS.
Really? – well let it be said that you do not need 5,000 pharmacies to support the PBS and if half of them went they would not be missed – they might just relocate to a doctor’s surgery, Aboriginal health service, super GP clinic or aged care/nursing home - far more convenient for the consumer.
(NIMBY=Not in my backyard)
Terry White
It is good to see a book of the life and times of probably the most innovative and inspiring pharmacist of our time – Terry White. The University of Queensland Press website describes the book thus:
“A Prescription for Change: The Terry White Story, veteran journalist Tony Koch colourfully charts the drive, integrity and family support that have guided White through a fascinating life in business and politics.
Growing up in a poor family, Terry White showed ambition from a young age, enrolling himself in a private school to receive a better education.”
Few will appreciate the contribution Terry White made to the direction and policies of the Pharmacy Guild in the late 1970s before he became the Liberal Party Leader in the Queensland. Few too who knew of his courageous endeavours to overthrow the (then) corrupt Queensland Government will forget this event as a turning point in the political history of that State.
Now through the words of award winning journalist Tony Koch the full story of the White empire is told and will hopefully inspire more young pharmacists to realise the extent and breadth of their capacity to bring about change. The manner in which Terry (together with Rhonda) have carved a niche in the Australian community pharmacy business landscape taking account of all the good things pharmacists stand for is now there for all to read. For more on this book go to http://www.uqp.uq.edu.au/book_details.php?id=9780702237423
Size of the Under Co-payment market
It has been a long time coming but it now seems the review of capturing the under co-payment level market for PBS products is just around the corner. However like the review of pharmacy location rules conducted as a part of the Fourth Community Pharmacy Agreement it may not see the light of day until after the 5th Agreement is finalised.
One has to wonder why the money spent on these reviews could not have been better used if it is just going to be a matter of going through the process without the result being able to influence policy change.
The 5th Agreement must be based on firm commitments for any research to inform change rather than making it look as though a serious review is taking place and then buried for future generations.
The size of the under co-payment market is postulated as being 10% of the total and in reality we may never know. It seems the powers that be do not want anyone to know the size as then it would be possible to speculate the amount pharmacists are making by selling PBS at inflated prices. The mere fact that an under co-payment prescription will automatically attract some $12 in fees is enough to make the cost conscious cringe. This is all part of the cost of the PBS and it could well be that the true value to Australians is double the $6 billion reported as this only covers the costs claimed against the taxpayer and not the element people are paying from their own purse.
Consumer organisations should be demanding more information on this large and cost inflated sector of the PBS market.
Dispensing charter
It would seem as though the job of the pharmacist in primary health care is becoming automated in this electronic age to the extent that certain functions once taken for granted are only now possible if they are part of a new software program that aids the process and informs patient care.
Almost every three months there is mention of another computer based program to inform the management of chronic disease, patient compliance, provision of information leaflets and preparing patient medication profiles.
One could be excused for assuming that some party up there is making money out of these things to spark the often stated need for such programs to enhance the professional role of the pharmacist. The importation of software is taking the initiative away from local innovators and the trend to follow other countries resulting in a global picture of a pharmacist in community practice that was once the “local hero”.
It concerns this writer that after 50 years of trying to develop the professional role in an Australian way this is now being usurped by a desire to follow the global lead and adopt computer programs at the expense of personal effort.
The old days of indexing the prescription book was a way for the apprentice to become familiar with patient medication profiles and be alert to the duplication or interactions that might occur with dispensed medications. The danger today is that so much time will be spent learning, updating and maintaining databases that there is no time left for interpretation.
By all means use computer based programs to speed information retrieval but don’t lose sight of the fact that it is the personal interaction of the pharmacist with the client that builds goodwill – oh yes – and better health
Quote of the Month
The secret of contentment is knowing how to enjoy what you have,
and to be able to lose all desire for things beyond your reach.
Yutang Lin
1895-1976 Chinese writer and philologist
Send your subject suggestions to Pharma-Goss for comment.
Edited by Rollo Manning at rollom@iinet.net.au.
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