CHF proffers olive branch
August 27, 2013
The Consumers Health Forum
(CHF) yesterday released an “open
letter” to community pharmacists,
saying that despite its concerted
campaign against compensation
for accelerated price disclosure it
“recognises the integral role you
play in healthcare and believe you
deserve respect”.
The CHF, together with ACOSS and
CHOICE, launched the Stand Up For
Cheaper Medicines website (PD 20
Aug) in response to the industryled
“Save your local pharmacy”
campaign, which has seen
pharmacy staff gather thousands of
signatures from their customers for
a national petition.
The Forum says that it’s careful
in its material to differentiate
between the actions of pharmacy
owners and pharmacists, “but the
media often confuses the two”.
The open letter says the CHF
believes that “indefensible,
artificially high prices for medicines
will damage the well-earned
reputation of pharmacists and
erode hard-won trust.
“We also believe the best way
to remunerate health providers
for the provision of quality health
services is to pay them for the
provision of quality health services,”
the letter continues.
However the Guild has leapt
on the conciliatory nature of the
CHF letter, saying it “only serves
to emphasise the CHF’s lack of
understanding of community
pharmacy, the Fifth Community
Pharmacy Agreement and
Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
pricing arrangements”.
“The taxpayer-funded CHF has
also lamely blamed the media for
the adverse impact it has had on
community pharmacy confidence
and stability by spreading
misinformation,” the Guild added.
The Guild says there are about
60,000 jobs in community
pharmacy, including pharmacists
and assistants, adding that it’s
concerned about the impact of the
latest PBS changes on all of these
jobs, not to mention 8,000 students
currently studying pharmacy.
“The CHF refuses to acknowledge
that payments to community
pharmacy through the PBS
arrangements are not an ‘industry
assistance package’ but an
appropriate payment for millions of
services provided through privately
owned infrastructure requiring
billions of dollars of investment by
pharmacy owners,” the Guild said.
According to the Guild,
pharmacies strongly support efforts
to reduce the price of medicines,
with the petition signed by many
“real consumers in real pharmacies”
over the last two weeks seeking
“nothing more than a fair deal and
an honoured Agreement”.
CLICK HERE to see the CHF letter.
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