Pharmacy Daily | Guild stresses impartiality

THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia's approach to politics is "non-partisan and focused on aligning the mutual interests of its community pharmacy members with those of the government, which is tasked with representing the interests of consumers," says Guild executive director David Quilty writing in Forefront this week.

He said while it is important to engage in the democratic process, "any political influence that the Guild might have is overwhelmingly a result of the fact that pharmacies are held in such high public regard.

"So as long as community pharmacies continue to be trusted and valued by their patients, the Guild will remain an influential advocate for the sector," he said.

Quilty said he was responding to recent media attention around the Guild's attendances at party conferences and other paid political events, along with other levels of engagement.

"The Guild is a member-based organisation," Quilty wrote.

"Our job first and foremost is to represent our members, who are the owners of community pharmacies around Australia."

While there is engagement and attendance at paid political events, all participation is transparent, fully declared and publicly reported, and wherever possible the Guild endeavours to have pharmacists representing it at such events.

"Any contention that participation in paid political events is the reason behind the Guild's political influence could not be further from the truth," he said.

Quilty noted that engagement with governments of both sides over many years had seen the delivery of reforms via Community Pharmacy Agreements that have enabled the listing of new medicines as well as making the PBS the most fiscally sustainable part of the health budget.

At the same time the agreements have provided some certainty and stability to pharmacists investing private capital in a highly accessible part of what amounts to a "national health infrastructure," he added.