PHARMACY owners operating in regional cities need access to a Workforce Incentive Program (WIP) rather than $3,000 from the Rural Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance (RPMA), the Rural Pharmacy Network Australia (RPNA) believes.
RPNA spokesman, Peter Crothers, told Pharmacy Daily that the expansion of the RPMA to include hundreds of regional city recipients sent a confusing message.
Crothers said the new RPMA model (PD 04 Jan) had seen many remote pharmacies see their funding drop, while failing to address the workforce issues facing stores in regional cities.
"Pharmacies in regional cities have a really serious problem with the very high cost of recruiting and retaining skilled workforce, especially pharmacists," he said.
"It's now common to have zero applicants for regional city pharmacy jobs even when advertised at double the Award rate plus other benefits such as extended paid leave, use of a car and rent-free housing.
"It's a major issue. Non-metro owners have been calling for exactly the same sort of WIP that their rural GP and allied health colleagues have access to, in other words a dedicated workforce support program delivering tens of thousands of dollars in incentives per employed pharmacist.
"After being told there would be 'something for them' in the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement, regional city owners are waking up to the fact that $3,000 a year is -- as one put it -- 'not enough to make a difference' and wondering where they stand on workforce support."
Crothers described the RPMA funding which was based on the Modified Monash Model of rural classification (MMM) as a "policy and political stuff-up", but said that there was an opportunity to correct it when the current funding matrix expires on 30 Jun.
"We believe that rural community pharmacists' future interests on this matter are better served by working with the Guild and PSA rather than at cross-purposes with them.
"Even so, this really is a stuff-up and it really does need to be fixed.
"We're concentrating our efforts on building the necessary policy insight and political will to get it fixed.
"This new matrix has a six-month shelf-life expiring 30 Jun, which is plenty of time for policymakers to reflect on what has happened and announce something fairer before 01 Jul."
Meanwhile, pharmacies in MMM category three to seven locations that do not meet the other eligibility requirements can submit an exceptional circumstances request, which could result in partial payments if approved.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 19 Jan 21
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