Pharmacy Daily | Keep calm, future is bright urges PPA

THE Professional Pharmacists Australia (PPA) is calling on its members and all pharmacy employees to remain calm, despite the furore around 60-day dispensing, emphasising the "future for pharmacists is brighter than they want you to believe".

PPA President Leon Yap understands employees' concerns with the 60-day dispensing reforms and said he has expressed these concerns directly in meetings with the Federal Health Minister.

Yap stressed it is essential for pharmacy workers to understand that the role of the Pharmacy Guild is to represent employers' interests, while the union's role is to advocate and represent the interests of workers in the sector.

"PPA is receiving disturbing reports from members since the announcement of this policy, ranging from being pressured to participate in political protest action by bosses and having targets set for the number of patients they can get to sign a petition against the policy, to having their bosses openly telling them their jobs are at risk or having job offers revoked."

"While there may be a cost borne by the owners of community pharmacies due to these reforms, PPA does not believe that pharmacy employees should bear the brunt of any employer decisions."

The PPA has estimated that $1.3b will be reinvested into community pharmacy, as follows: $654.9m to fund the remaining years of the 7CPA programs; $377.3m to make Opioid Treatment Program accessible through the PBS; $111.8m for electronic-prescription delivery infrastructure and services, including mandating the use of e-prescribing for high-risk and high-cost medicines; $114.1m for community pharmacies to administer eligible National Immunisation Program vaccines; & $79.5m to double the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance to ensure the ongoing viability of around 1,093 rural and regional pharmacies due to reduced dispensing income.

Yap has questioned whether the impact of the reforms will be as severe as some are predicting saying, "we know that pharmacy workers have been dealing with massive workloads in community pharmacy for years.

"In conjunction with post-pandemic staff shortages, these high attrition rates are further exacerbating the workload issues of pharmacists who have remained on the front lines," explained Yap.

"So it's tough to reconcile this with the pharmacy employers' campaign that they may need to sack up to one-third of the workforce due to the 60-day reforms.

"There may be an overall reduction in dispensing but there is also the move to full scope of practice, the introduction of embedded aged care pharmacists and an increasing role in primary care," Yap concluded.