The new Community Pharmacy Agreement highlights the power of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. No other part of the health-care system has seen such an increase in funding support.
The Pharmacy Guild head wept at the thought of pharmacies losing income from a change that allows people with chronic diseases to halve their prescription costs. What’s going on?
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia was founded in 1928 as an employers’ organisation for the owners of community pharmacies.
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The Pharmacy Guild represents the owners of community pharmacies around the country. Their reach into every community and large political donations make them more powerful than other lobby groups.
It can be more convenient getting a script from a pharmacist rather than visiting your GP.
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Prominent GP and former MP Kerryn Phelps has weighed into the doctor-pharmacist turf war, saying pharmacists shouldn’t prescribe because of their financial interests. But the evidence says otherwise.
Patients pay a contribution towards the cost of their medication to the pharmacist who then claims the difference between what they paid and the patient contribution from the government.
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Australians make an average of 14 visits to the pharmacy for medicines and advice every year but most don’t know about the agreement that governs how we buy government-subsidised medicines from them.
Ownership and location rules ensure that Australia’s pharmacy sector is protected from competition.
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Despite calls for reform to make the pharmacy sector more competitive, governments are loath to take on the quietly-powerful Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the professional body for pharmacists.