MEDICAL organisations and groups lobbying for the deregulation of community pharmacy are attempting to undermine the relationship that patients have with their pharmacist, Pharmacy Guild of Australia NSW Branch President, David Heffernan (pictured), believes.
Attacks on the profession have stepped up in recent weeks, with persistent reporting that patients have been paying over the odds for medicines in News Corp publications and across the Macquarie Radio network.
Opening the Pharmacy Connect conference in Sydney on Fri, Heffernan urged pharmacists to combat the attacks on the profession that have been mounting in the lead up to the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA), by continuing to deliver high levels of customer service and strengthening their relationships with patients.
"A lot of what happens in the media is designed to attack the bond that you have with your patients," Heffernan said.
"That public trust is the most powerful, effective thing that makes the Guild powerful.
"We don't have the big clout of the big miners, big oil, big energy or big pharma.
"Where our power does come from is in the good work that you do that develops that trust with the patients."
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