Pharmacy Daily | ‘Take the wins as they come’ – Hunt

PHARMACY lobby groups will be able to continue to push for fairer remuneration for members of the profession administering COVID-19 vaccines as part of the Government's ongoing review of its rollout program.

However, Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, told a webinar hosted by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia last night that they should "take the wins as they come", with the campaign being the first to remunerate pharmacists for administering vaccines.

Under the current remuneration structure pharmacies in metropolitian areas are paid $42 to administer two doses to a patient, and $48 for pharmacies in Modified Monash Model areas two or higher, while GPs can earn up to $75 for providing the same service (PD 30 Jul).

Guild National President, Trent Twomey, told a webinar last week that the organisation subscribed to the "notion that if you're doing the same job you deserve the same pay", and raised the issue with the Minister during last night's event.

"If there's one thing I can say, it's Trent is relentless and that's totally to his credit and the Guild's, but take the wins as they come," Hunt said.

"We're constantly reviewing the program, so of course you can raise these points, but each day's a good day when you're doing something you haven't previously done."

Closing out last night's webinar, Twomey reiterated his pledge "to continue to fight" for "same job, same pay" and for vaccine harmonisation across Australia.

"You heard the Minister say that we are relentless," he said.

"We are relentless to the point of being annoying and a bit of a stone in his shoe.

"I hear you - same job, same pay - I have not forgotten that, we will continue to fight for it - all vaccines, all Australians, all pharmacies.

"That's where we will end up, it will just happen in a staged approach."

Twomey also noted that while off-site vaccination services may be allowed under State and Territory regulations, "it is not allowed in the payment model", which he said was unlikely to change this year.

"I'm working on this," he said.

"It will probably not form part of the architecture in 2021, [but] it will probably form part of the architecture in 2022, but who knows things are moving very quickly."