Editorial
Welcome to the May 2013 edition of i2P - Information to pharmacists.
Economic turbulence seems to now be arriving in Australia with forecasts of high inflation rates, which also means high interest rates following on.
This type of economic forecast also means that banks will be more fractious with their borrowers. They are already offside with pharmacy due to the high level of bankruptcies over the past two years.
There is a pent up demand for a general wage increase for pharmacists impacting at a point in this month where pharmacy gross profit generally, is in decline.
Columns
Loretta Marron BSc: Health Watch
Barry Urquhart: Marketing Focus
Harvey Mackay: Strategic Thinking
Mark Neuenschwander: I`ve been thinking about...Recent Comments
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Health Politics
Staff Writer: Pharmacy Funding Governance Lacking
Professional Pharmacists Australia Spokesperson: Professional Pharmacists Hit Out at Abbott’s Penalty Rate Plans | open full screen
Peter Sayers: The Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to review science on pesticides and bee healthEPublications
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PDF version | Gerald Quigley |
Gerald Quigley is a Melbourne-based pharmacist who has a strong interest in complementary medicine. He is a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, The National Herbalists Association of Australia and The Australian Traditional Medicine Society. | |
I had the pleasure this afternoon of speaking with pharmacy students from RMIT University.
What an inspiring group!
I headed, having read at breakfast, a garbage piece of journalism written in the Herald Sun Melbourne, implying that every pharmacy is ripping you off unless they are selling discounted cold and ‘flu remedies.
In this cynical piece, the journalist naming himself as “Public Defender” quotes “if you do your homework to source a cheaper product, then you are going to end up with money in your pocket”.
From a sensational journalistic perspective, I can take it or leave it. I can dispatch it to the recycle bin, although I feel that sometimes some newspapers aren’t quality enough to recycle!
What really gets up my nose is that we don’t have a spokesperson to defend and justify our position in the health team. The article contains a very insipid reply from the Pharmacy Guild, which doesn’t address the professional slagging that is implied in this article. Or am I being a bit precious? Will we as usual, keep our heads down, never comment, never justify our position, and just be happy with letting the discounters get their way?
If this article was an attack on the fees of GPs, the AMA head would be out there on every TV news channel justifying the role of the quality GP treatment in the health of Australians. Who’s our spokesperson? Where is PSA here? Don’t they represent the professional interests of member pharmacists? Or don’t we have the courage to have an opinion?
I challenged the student group today to learn to have an opinion early, and not to allow the commercial and political interests of our professional bodies to lead us down a government-led one way path. I challenged them to be proud professionals, proud pharmacists in a noble profession. But I encouraged them to shake the tree, to seek justification of our place in the health care team, and to demand our professional bodies to move with the times. To be aware of the perceptions out there, and to be quick to respond. Or is it too cozy in the cold Capital?
Amen, and as AAMI says, “I feel better now”.
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Submitted by Kay Dunkley on Fri, 01/06/2012 - 20:55.
In this week's MJA Insight (Issue 20-25 May 2012) Aniello Iannuuzzi, in an article which questions the value of the AMA to doctors, actually makes the reverse comparison noting how well the Guild has negotiated the CPA and the "financial windfall for pharmacists". This particular article has generated a large number of responses from doctors who mostly criticise the AMA and its ability to represent doctors.
It would seem to me that loyalty to the associations which represent professionals is at an all time low, with declining memberships and constant criticism from within the professions and from consumer groups. It would be interesting to know what has prompted this change in attitude in recent years.
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