LAST week, the inquiry into the Pharmacy Ownership Bill 2023 was transferred to the Cost of Living and Economics Committee, and if it passes, a new Queensland Pharmacy Business Ownership Council will be formed in the coming weeks to regulate the Bill.
The Pharmacy Business Ownership Bill 2023 seeks to repeal the 2001 Act and replace it with a modern and effective framework for the regulation of the ownership of chemists.
A key policy objective was to establish a regulatory council as a statutory body to administer the Act and transfer some official functions from Queensland Health to the council.
It is estimated it will cost the Govt approximately $9.8m over four years to establish the Qld Pharmacy Business Ownership Council.
The body will administer community pharmacy business ownership regulation & implement a community pharmacy ownership licensing scheme in the state.
The Productivity Commission, the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council & the RACGP have expressed concerns about the Bill.
"There is both no evidence of a problem, and no evidence that if there were a problem, the solution proposed by the Bill would fix it," Productivity Commissioner Dr Steven King told the committee.
"I think the problem with ownership rules in pharmacy is best characterised by saying that they create a necessary paradox for our allied health system." fundamentally different to GPs, psychologists, physiotherapists and so on in that they are so untrustworthy that they must have these ownership rules to ensure their professional integrity, or the situation is that the pharmacy ownership rules create professional conduct in pharmacy that is lacking in other allied healthcare professions around Australia.
"I have seen no evidence whatsoever that other parts of the Australian allied healthcare professions including GPs, psychologists, physiotherapists and others act in anything other than the most professional way in the interests of their clients, regardless of the fact that they do not have those ownership rules," King commented. JG
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