Calls for end to Guild’s reign
November 21, 2011
FEDERAL Health Minister Nicola
Roxon has found herself in the
midst of a power struggle, after the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia,
the Consumer Health Forum and
APESMA launched joint action
calling for an end to the Pharmacy
Guild of Australia’s exclusive
Community Pharmacy Agreement
negotiations.
Reported in today’s Sydney Morning
Herald, APESMA supported the
calls by commissioning an Essential
Research poll which looked at the
responses of 1,038 Aussies in
regards to the deals between the
Pharmacy Guild of Australia and
drug companies.
According to the poll results, 30%
of respondents said they have
heard of the deal, 62% of which
said the deals reduced their trust in
pharmacists.
“We are outraged that the
Pharmacy Guild and drug companies,
motivated by profits, have caused
unprecedented damage to the
pharmacy profession,” said Chris
Walton, CEO of APESMA.
In the letter penned by the
coalition to Roxon, the trio said
called the exclusive negotiations
“absurd”, adding that the Guild
“only represents pharmacy
owners, and is the organisation
responsible for recent controversies
which have damaged the
reputation of Australian pharmacists”.
In addition, Carol Bennett from
the Consumer Health Forum told
reporters from the Sydney Morning
Herald that the public should know
where the 5CPA’s $15 billion in
funding is spent.
“Unfortunately we currently do
not know what is in the
agreement, we do not fully
monitor how the $15 billion is
spent, and we do not measure its
effectiveness in terms of real
health outcomes,” she said.
MEANWHILE the Pharmacy Guild
has responded to the action saying
it is “perplexing that the Consumers
Health Forum would assert that ‘we
currently do not know what is in
the Agreement’ as the Agreement
is a public document, “and there is
no lack of accountability and
independent evaluation of the
effectiveness of its provisions”.
“The Pharmacy Guild continues to
work hard to maintain the trust the
community places in pharmacists,”
the Guild said.
“The only people talking down the
trust put in pharmacists is APESMA,
which partly explains why the
union has a small and dwindling
membership,” the Guild added.
The Guild also defended itself
saying that in the Community
Pharmacy Agreement negotiations
it represents the overwhelming
majority of community pharmacy
owners.
“As an industry, community
pharmacy brings over 5,000 critical
pieces of health infrastructure to
the table,” the Guild said.
“With such a huge investment in
their custodianship of the PBS, it is
only appropriate that community
pharmacists be able to negotiate
the ongoing sustainability and
viability of their businesses directly
with the Government,” the Guild
added.
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