Pharmacy Daily | A decade of opportunity

AUSTRALIA'S primary healthcare system is facing a decade of transformation that will provide community pharmacists with opportunities to play a greater role in patient care, Blooms the Chemist Head of Retail, Emmanuel Vavoulas, believes.

Speaking at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference (APP) last week, Vavoulas said the country's ageing population combined with a forecast "deficit of doctors and nurses" by 2030, would place increased importance on the role of community pharmacists.

"At Blooms the Chemist we believe those community pharmacies that have a collaborative, patient-centred approach to treating and preventing illnesses will play a significant role... between now and 2030," he said.

"As we move forward there will be an increased demand for compounded medicine and further changes to the scheduling of medicines.

"There will be a requirement for more personalised healthcare and our role as a pharmacist will continue to broaden.

"Personalisation [of care] and increased services will provide opportunities for community pharmacists to deepen their customer relationships, strengthen their businesses and help them to differentiate themselves from online stores and transactional providers."

Vavoulas noted that through the challenges of fires, floods and COVID-19, community pharmacists across the country had stayed open, heightening the profession's stature with patients.

"The pandemic meant demands on pharmacists increased 10-fold overnight," he said.

"Community pharmacists provided continuing care and became a trusted source of information, advice and comfort.

"Building on this trusted relationship will place community pharmacy at the forefront of healthcare through every stage of the patient's life.

"The role of the pharmacist has evolved and will continue to... we will increasingly be seen as health service providers rather than dispensers, providing a broad and flexible range of health services both in-person and via e-health."