Youth speaks up for future
December 1, 2011
In a letter penned to Pharmacy
Daily, Trent Twomey of the
Australian College of Pharmacy has
made an impassioned plea for unity
within the industry, and a scrapping
of calls for a Senate Inquiry.
The letter, to accompany a page 3
flyer in today’s issue, is below:
Over the past week I have fought
an ideological battle, one I think
needs to be given some context and
background.
While I have recently become a
National Councillor of the
Pharmacy Guild and the National
President of the Australian College
of Pharmacy, I write not as a
representative of an organisation
but as a young Pharmacist.
I am a Pharmacist who bought his
first home right before the GFC and
is now too afraid to have it revalued.
I may not be old enough to
remember the days of the banana
economy or of 21% interest rates but
I spend a greater percentage of my
pay packet on servicing my home
loan and business loans than any
generation of pharmacists before me.
I graduated in the middle of the
proliferation of new pharmacy
schools, experienced an employment
market where people actually knew
the award wage not the market wage.
My point is the barrier to entry,
both in terms of skill set and
financial equity has never been
more out of reach for the new
emerging under class, the young
pharmacist. The Forgotten People.
I believe pharmacy has a great
future, but the future belongs to us
not the minorities driving the agenda,
not those with no skin in the game.
The battle of specialisation versus
generalisation has been lost, upskilling
and credentialing to create
a point of difference is already here.
The consulting, compounding and
retail pharmacists are each
specialties in their own right.
The issue of the past week has been
one of splinter groups and of stability.
Splinter groups forging a revolutionary
agenda that created undue instability
in an already hurting market.
Pharmacy bankruptcies and
foreclosures are at record highs and
banks who once viewed pharmacy
as rock solid and virtually risk free
are now demanding high debt to
equity ratios and regular reviews.
The call for a Senate Inquiry last
week was reckless and irresponsible
and ricocheted through the industry
creating unnecessary instability.
In a world economy such as ours
instability and risk go hand in hand,
and as a young pharmacist who has
put his money where his mouth is,
the last thing I needed was more risk.
The stake holders of the Pharmacist
Coalition for Health Reform by now
must realise this is not the correct
forum for change.
Clearly there does need to be
change in the way we work
together - change however needs to
be evolutionary not revolutionary in
its nature, a shift to remuneration
for professional services, and the
post-graduate training and
credentialing that goes with it.
This requires a collaborative
approach between the traditional
supply chain, the educators, and the
professional bodies and stake holders.
The key word here is evolutionary
not revolutionary, as change must
come with a feasible business model
and not at the expense of a world
leading community pharmacy network.
The Australian Pharmacy Liaison
Forum is a wider and more inclusive
body, one with a more legitimate
cross section to discuss the many
and varied issues facing us all.
We must all band together now to
show those outside that we as a
profession stand united in our
support of the industry, to tell the
government we have hurt enough,
we have given enough. It is up to us
now to show stability in leadership,
to ensure continued investment.
Young Pharmacists you are not
forgotten and you have a voice.
Thank you for your support and
activism in the past seven days.
Whilst ownership might not be the
goal for the great many of us the
common underlying thread is that
our Community Pharmacy
infrastructure is the envy of the
world, it has the community at its
core and we must not forget how
privileged we are to serve the
Australian public through this
unrivalled and universally
affordable and accessible network.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 01 Dec 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 01 Dec 11