SUPPORTING rural and remote pharmacy: With the Federal election campaign now underway, one of the issues the Guild is focusing on is the needs and challenges facing community pharmacies in rural and remote Australia.
The Community Pharmacies for Rural and Indigenous Australia Advisory Group (CPRIA) has produced what might be termed an election manifesto to draw the attention of all sides of politics to the role of rural pharmacies and the compelling need to support them and their staff.
Rural community pharmacies are struggling with workforce shortages and workforce distribution inequities on top of problems with accessing appropriately funded training and services, and of course the medicine shortages that are now so prevalent. These issues compound the challenges these community pharmacies have in providing services to a population with high rates of chronic disease, lower health literacy and socioeconomic status -- all of which require more time to be spent with patients to ensure quality health outcomes.
The document can be viewed on the Guild website at:
https://www.guild.org.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/73904/Issues-for-Rural-and-Remote-Pharmacies-April-2019.pdf.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 16 Apr 19
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