AUSTRALIAN Medicine Association President, Dr Tony Bartone (pictured), has accused the Pharmacy Guild of Australia of bullying Federal politicians, on ABC Radio's Nightlife program.
When challenged by Guild National President, George Tambassis, to back up assertions that pharmacists had administered influenza vaccines inappropriately, and that they were not suitably trained to provide services that pharmacists in the UK and Canada provide, the AMA chief claimed the Guild used bullying tactics against the Federal Health Minister.
"This is typical of the pharmacy where you have this bullying type arrangement," Bartone said.
"It might work with the minister, [but] it's not going to work with me," he fumed.
"When we've argued that we should be able to double pack size [prescriptions] where the patient is stable... [the Guild] came out loudly with full page ads in the papers and the minister removed that as a point of discussion, just on the eve of the election."
Tambassis refuted the allegations.
"It's not bullying," he said.
"There's no such thing as bullying in pharmacy, there's no such thing as bullying in GP practices... we work closely with our doctors and we offer our patients the choice [of healthcare provider]."
Tambassis added that the Guild wanted to see pharmacists practice to their full scope, but stressed "pharmacists don't want to be doctors".
Speaking on the same show, Grattan Institute Health Director, Stephen Duckett, backed pharmacists to provide a greater range of services, despite Bartone's insistence that they did not have the appropriate training.
"Where I start from is that GP time is a scarce resource, and we ought to be using GP time to the best extent possible," he said.
"They should be doing some things that currently only a GP can do. My view is that the pharmacists do have skills.
"They've got this four or five years of training...they understand about drug interactions and what goes with what," Duckett added.
"They already provide advice to consumers so that in, as part of, the health team."
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