PSA: challenges ahead
January 20, 2014
The Pharmaceutical Society of
Australia (PSA) ceo Liesel Watt said
the pharmacy profession would
continue to face challenges this
year, particularly in the current
economic climate.
Pharmacy Daily asked a number
of industry leaders their predictions
for 2014 - in this PART III of the
three responses, Watt said the
industry needed to meet challenges
head on and find opportunities
within them.
“We are strongly promoting a
greater utilisation of pharmacists
as healthcare clinicians to provide
stability and a sustainable future for
the profession.”
Watt believed the evolution of
community pharmacies as health
destinations, offering a wide range
of professional services and advice,
would grow this year.
“Our health destination trial
has shown the effectiveness of
this model where a pharmacist
is located front of shop to meet
customers and speak to them about
their health needs.”
The industry needed to learn
from the current Fifth Community
Pharmacy Agreement as
negotiations began for the next
agreement, which would exist with
a rapidly rising ageing population
and an increase in the number of
chronic conditions, Watt said.
“ We need to be smarter and
more strategic in how we deal
with this dynamic and how we
structure the Agreement to
ensure health needs are met while
also maintaining a viable and
sustainable pharmacy profession.”
The industry needed to take a
holistic approach to healthcare and
move away from the ‘body parts’
approach which saw particular
specialisation of services for very
specific conditions, Watt said.
“Pharmacists make clinical
judgements based on the patient
presenting to them at the time –
which should be supported by tools
and funding streams that mean
that whatever the health service
the patient receives, the pharmacist
as a clinician, is remunerated in
some way.
“We must adapt the profession
to deal with these issues along
with giving pharmacists the tools
and capacity to work to their scope
outside of narrowly focused areas.”
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 20 Jan 14To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 20 Jan 14
