Guild on location rules
July 28, 2014
PHARMACY Guild of Australia
national president George
Tambassis has written to members
to address concerns raised about
pharmacy location rules.
Tambassis said members had
voiced frustration with the process
of Ministerial Discretion and that it
was important that this was used
“wisely and sparingly” by Guild
members and “not seen as simply a
right of appeal”.
He said there were concerns in
government about the increasing
amount of time and cost entailed
in administering Location Rule
applications, including Ministerial
Discretions.
“It has been brought to my
attention that consultants may be
openly encouraging the use of the
Ministerial Discretion option and I
am concerned that any perception
that pharmacists are attempting
to game the system in any way
only serve to undermine the
Location Rules and potentially the
Government’s ongoing support for
them.”
The Australian Community
Pharmacy Authority also had
concern about the large number of
applications being lodged, including
some which were deemed to be
vexatious or intended to block
other interests, Tambassis said.
“This is a matter which the
Authority could be forced to
deal with, including through the
imposition of an application fee
that would discourage disingenuous
applications.”
In the lead up to the Sixth
Agreement, it was likely that
aspects of the location rules would
be reviewed and assessed and
everyone had a responsibility
to work under the rules and not
engage in behaviour seen to
undermine them, he said.
He said the Guild would continue
to advocate strongly to ensure
the rules were maintained
and anomalies or deficiencies
addressed, as well as at a
Ministerial level regarding the issue
of PBS scripts dispensed from
unapproved pharmacies.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 Jul 14To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 28 Jul 14
