Guild, PSA at loggerheads
May 14, 2010
THE Pharmacy Guild has reacted
strongly to claims by the
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia
that the PSA was responsible for
the increased funding for
professional programs in the Fifth
Community Pharmacy Agreement.
The war of words follows a story
in Pharmacy Daily earlier this week
(PD Wed) in which the PSA said the
allocation of $660m in budget
funding for professional services “is
a direct result of representations
made by PSA” to Health Minister
Nicola Roxon.
Last night the Guild took the
unprecedented step of circulating a
robust rebuttal to its members,
alleging that the PSA statement
was “false and misleading”.
“Such statements do a disservice
to the dedicated Guild staff and
elected officials who spent
hundreds of hours negotiating the
agreement,” the Guild said.
“In order to set the record straight
the Guild wishes to inform
Members that the extra money
added into the Agreement for
professional services was
negotiated by the Guild prior to 24
December. It was part of a formula
negotiated by the Guild with the
Government in recognition of the
likely flow-on impact to pharmacy
of further PBS reforms,” the special
member newsletter said.
Going further, the Guild added
that the inclusion of PBS reform
flow-ons in the Agreement and the
parallel negotiations between the
government and Medicines
Australia (PD Wed) were “the
reason the Guild couldn’t involve
the PSA in the negotiations.
“Since these reforms were to be
introduced as part of the Budget it
was not possible for the Guild to
make any announcement about
this additional money until Budget
night,” the Guild said.
The Guild said it regretted the
necessity to circulate the letter “but
we have had to do so because
community pharmacists have
sought clarification from us about
the statements being made by the
PSA”.
MEANWHILE the Guild has also
responded to concern by a group
of pharmacy academics (PD
yesterday) about the demise of the
DMAS and PAMS programs under
the Fifth Agreement - see p2 story.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 14 May 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 14 May 10
