Professions slam Woolies
July 2, 2014
Supermarket giant
Woolworths has come under
a barrage of attack from the
Pharmacy Guild of Australia,
the Pharmaceutical Society
of Australia (PSA) and the
Australian Medical Association
(AMA) for a new “health
checks” program for customers
- in aisles surrounded by
sugary foods, alcohol, high fat
snacks and cigarettes.
The controversial service,
which is being trialled
in six stores in NSW and
Queensland, employs whitecoated
nurses, pharmacy
students and graduating
pharmacists (pictured) to
conduct free blood pressure and
cholesterol tests in front of branded
pain therapy displays.
The PSA, Guild and AMA
have all slammed the ethics of
the approach, both for using
unqualified staff and for the
“cynical,” “hypocritical” selling of
products proven to be detrimental
to health in the same stores.
The top 20 non-food products and
the top 13 of all products sold in
supermarkets are cigarette brands,
while the retailers also hold 60% of
Australia’s alcohol business.
Pharmacy Guild national
president, George Tambassis,
has expressed concern about
the “attempt by a supermarket
to circumvent the clear intent
of the Ministerial determination
which prohibits the co-location of
pharmacies within supermarkets.
“It is putting student pharmacists
at risk if they purport to be
providing some form of clinical
advice or professional services
unsupervised in a non-pharmacy
environment,” he added.
The Guild also challenged the
qualifications of those conducting
the health checks and providing
advice on medicines, asking under
what supervision would these
young people be operating, and
would they be referring patients to
other health professionals as would
occur in the clinical setting with a
professional pharmacist.
MEANWHILE AMA president,
Associate Professor Brian Owler,
called on Woolworths to scrap its
plans, saying “nothing is simple or
straightforward when checking a
person’s health.
“In the proposed Woolworths
environment, there would be no
access to patient history and there
would be no privacy,” said Owler.
And the PSA has also weighed
in, with national president Grant
Kardachi branding the initiative
as “a very targeted move by
Woolworths to introduce pharmacist
services into their supermarkets.”
He reminded any pharmacists
being solicited by Woolworths that
the PSA Code of Ethics requires
them to practise under conditions
which uphold the professional
independence, judgement and
integrity of themselves or others.
Kardachi also invited Woolworths
and any other chain to contact the
PSA about their plans “and be open
about their intentions.”
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