THE Pharmacy Guild has identified what it describes as a serious conflict of interest for the Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation, in relation to consultancy firm Deloitte which has been contracted to advise the Review while also having consulted to Chemist Warehouse for its submission on reforming pharmacy ownership and location rules.
Guild president George Tambassis wrote to members on Sat following the release of the Panel's final 2016 communiqu late last week (PD yesterday), saying it was of "great concern" that the Panel had not addressed the matter.
"In the interests of transparency, it is imperative that all documentation relating to the Review's interactions with Deloitte is made public as soon as possible," Tambassis fumed, pledging that the Guild would pursue a Freedom of Information request on the matter.
Tambassis said this conflict "seriously undermines the independence of the Review and makes it virtually impossible for it to make untainted recommendations, particularly in regard to location rules".
The Guild has also highlighted further concerns about the current Pharmacy Financial Survey being conducted by the Panel, saying it contained "significant defects" rendering it incapable of providing an accurate picture of the sector.
"Given these inherent flaws, we cannot endorse the survey or recommend that you answer it".
Tambassis assured members the Guild was committing all resources into ensuring that community pharmacies got a fair, evidence based outcome from the Review.
"However we cannot stand by and allow the Review to get away with fundamental conflicts of interest and flawed and unaccountable approaches to pharmacy financial data collection," he said, pledging that the Guild would "not rest until these issues are addressed".
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