Plibersek backs pharmacy
March 9, 2012
FEDERAL Health Minister Tanya
Plibersek yesterday strongly
endorsed the Australian pharmacy
sector, telling delegates at the APP
Conference on the Gold coast that
with the ageing population and
proliferation of complex chronic
conditions “the role of pharmacists
is more important than ever
before”.
It was the first APP appearance
for Plibersek, who was appointed to
the health portfolio in Dec last year,
and she also announced the winner
of the Pharmacy of the Year
competition (see page three).
In her speech Plibersek also
clarified the government’s position
on the Senate Inquiry into the Fifth
Community Pharmacy Agreement
which has been proposed by the
Greens party.
“The Government does not
support such a Senate Inquiry...it is
a five year Agreement and is only in
its second year,” she said.
“We believe it is delivering for the
community; our approach is to
make sure the Agreement is
properly evaluated and to use the
lessons learned to feed into the
development of a Sixth
Agreement,” she added.
To that end, Plibersek also
released the Evaluation Framework
for the review of the programs
delivered under the Agreement.
“An open and transparent
evaluation process was already
built into the Fifth Agreement and I
didn’t see the need for another
politically motivated inquiry to preempt
the planned review,” she said.
The Pharmacy Guild welcomed
the comments, with National
President Kos Sclavos saying “The
Minister’s speech was an important
endorsement of the role of
community pharmacy and the
stability provided by the
Community Pharmacy Agreements”.
MEANWHILE Plibersek also
described the professional
programs and services funded
under the Fifth Agreement as a
“real success story,” saying that
more than 4,700 pharmacies had
registered to receive the Pharmacy
Practice Incentive in return for
recording services provided.
“Since June last year there have
been over 500,000 clinical
interventions documented by those
pharmacies that record their
services electronically,” she said.
Plibersek said that as well as
being good for patients, this would
help policy makers who would be
able to use the evidence
accumulated to assess the benefits
of clinical interventions.
She also acknowledged the
Guild’s efforts in progressing the
electronic health agenda, and said
the Health Dept was committed to
working with stakeholders to
improve interoperability of
e-prescribing systems.
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