Pharmacists losing their mojo

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Neil Retallick articles by this author...

Neil Retallick is a former General Manager, Merchandising, for National Pharmacies, the successful community pharmacy model owned by the Friendly Societies. Neil holds a Graduate Diploma of Marketing from Monash University, is a CPM and a graduate of the AICD.He began his career with Myer Stores Ltd and worked for FMCG companies including TIA (Sheridan) and Pacific Dunlop. Prior to these roles Neil worked for Cadbury Schweppes Drinks Division - Grocery, and Trimex Pty Ltd in Victoria in State management roles. He is currently Chief Executive Officer at the  Combined Dispensaries in Sydney and is a Member of the Advisory Board at Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science

I read some market research recently that ought to concern community pharmacists across the country, as well as the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
Groups of average Australians were brought together for a series of focus groups to discuss the community pharmacy landscape as they see it.
Some of the feedback was disconcerting.

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There were two important views shared by these groups. The first was that they felt they had been paying too much for many of the products they have been buying in pharmacies. The emergence of the discount pharmacy, advertising medicines at much lower prices than they had previously been paying, was an indication to them that their own pharmacies had been making too much profit from the medicines these consumers needed to buy.
The second shared view that emerged from the discussions was that the way in which pharmacies have been promoting weight loss solutions was not a good thing. There was a general view that most of the meal replacement products offered by many pharmacies were not a useful weight management tool. A number of people challenged their efficacy and some believed their use was counter-productive – that once their usage stopped the weight problems of those taking them worsened.
What was interesting here was not the discussion about the meal replacement products but the conclusion reached collectively by these groups as an outcome of these two discussions. The view these average Australians shared was that pharmacies were no longer places to go for trusted and objective advice and information regarding personal health issues. Pharmacies today are “… just like other retailers…”. Community pharmacies today are “… focussed on making money...”
I think the “just like other retailers” comment is the most worrying. Within a few weeks the Pharmacy Guild will be making representations to the Government regarding the ways in which community pharmacies across Australia can deliver the healthcare outcomes that the Australian Government is committed to delivering to its constituents. A key proposition of the Guild will be that what community pharmacies can deliver here is different to “… other retailers…”.
The Guild has always been able to galvanise pharmacy users across the nation to demonstrate their view that community pharmacists are the best people in the community to deliver the health outcomes they want. The fact that average Australians are forming the view that community pharmacies are no different to other retailers both puts at risk the Guild’s negotiating position and provides the opportunity for other retailers to step up to the plate. Do I need to say supermarkets?
The Guild has worked very hard over the last 10 years to get its accreditation program – Quality Care Pharmacy Program (QCPP) – adopted by community pharmacies. This program requires a real commitment from pharmacies to the delivery of meaningful and professional healthcare to the communities each accredited pharmacy serves. The concern that emerges from the recent focus groups is that maybe the good work done here is being undermined by the entrepreneurial behaviour being demonstrated in the front of shop?
The price discounting of OTC medicines in recent years proves the claims of Roger Corbett from some years back when he told the Government that Australians were paying too much for their medicines. The embracing of meal replacement products as weight management strategy by many pharmacies has left a bad taste in the mouths of many Australians – there has been too much public debate about the efficacy of these products long term and in the broader health context. The credibility of community pharmacists as professional health carers has been damaged it seems.
Perhaps it is time for the Pharmacy Guild to develop a set of guidelines that are complementary to those in the QCPP, or at least expand on what is already there. There are many community pharmacists that are committed to and focussed on the delivery of professional healthcare. Maybe the Guild can develop an accreditation that identifies these for the average Australian.