Guild letter to the editor
April 10, 2014
The letter to the editor expressing
concern about the Guild’s survey
of pharmacies’ employment
expectations has prompted this
response from Pharmacy Guild of
Australia Victoria branch president
Anthony Tassone:
I read with interest Joe Lamhut’s
letter in your PD 07 Apr edition.
I agree, the survey results from
the 944 pharmacies is indeed
disturbing and of significant
concern to the Pharmacy Guild
with an estimated almost 9,000 job
losses in the next 12 months from
community pharmacies (including
2,229 pharmacists and 4,400
pharmacy assistants).
Furthermore I agree that the level
of positivity displayed by a range
of pharmacy owners at APP on
the Gold Coast recently was very
encouraging.
Underlying this level of positivity
however was a sense of uncertainty
– particularly given the Federal
Government effectively broke the
Agreement by legislating Simplified
Price Disclosure (or accelerated
price disclosure) which was part of
Labor’s pre-election announcement
last year.
This prompted the Guild to call
on its members to undertake
the ‘Pharmacy Under Threat’
campaign, compiling a petition
with a record 1.2 million signatures
that sends a very clear signal from
the Australian public of the value
they place in their local pharmacy.
The Guild will not give up the fight
for an offset to the pre-election
announcements around price
disclosure to ameliorate its impact
on the viability of community
pharmacies.
I have recently travelled
throughout Victoria hosting
members’ forums in metropolitan
and regional areas such as Bendigo,
Benalla and Geelong.
The ongoing feedback I receive
is that pharmacy owners fully
understand and recognise the
importance of offering a high
quality service in a sustainable
manner to best serve their patients
and customers.
Pharmacy owners want to
embrace new technology and
new initiatives to provide
superior service levels – but need
certainty to foster investment and
innovation. Reducing staff numbers
and making redundancies is not
‘Plan A’, but it is an unfortunate
reality in the current climate
without an offset from the breaking
of the Community Pharmacy
Agreement.
The Guild will continue to provide
training, education, support and
other resources for its members to
help adapt and meet the challenges
of the current and looming climate.
The Guild understands the
distress and concern of what
these results indicate, but feels
it has an obligation on behalf of
community pharmacy to highlight
these facts to the Australian public
and government to demonstrate
the risks of not providing certainty
and appropriate sustainable
remuneration that recognises the
value of community pharmacy.
We welcome any comments.
If you would like to weigh in on
this or other subjects, email us at
info@pharmacydaily.com.au.
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