President's Message

Welcome to this special Forum edition of Guild News magazine. As the name suggests, this edition is dedicated to The Pharmacy WA Forum 2023, the premier event dedicated to empowering WA pharmacy owners and senior pharmacy professionals. Each year the Forum program focuses on the most relevant and pressing issues currently facing the sector, and this year is no different.

After encountering and surviving the global COVID-19 pandemic and its associated medicines shortages, workforce constraints, additional demand for vaccination and primary healthcare services, community pharmacy faces the ill-conceived 60-day dispensing policy by the Albanese Government.

This policy is entirely dependent on community pharmacies bearing its cost, with even the Commonwealth government’s own assessment identifying the policy will remove $158,000 annually from an average community pharmacy. Two subsequent independent assessments have evaluated the impact as greater than this, at up to $200,000.

Accompanying the policy has been an orchestrated and sustained gaslighting campaign by government MPs which has frustrated, angered, and disparaged pharmacists and effectively demeaned and undervalued community pharmacy.

I have lost count of the number of times a member has forwarded to me ill-informed communications from their local Labor MP, who simply regurgitate, without understanding, pre-prepared statements outlining the purported benefits of the policy as cost-of-living relief, the support it has from irrelevant self-interested groups, claims of reinvesting the resulting savings, and that the policy itself was a recommendation of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee from five years ago. The list goes on.

This is a critical time for the sector. Your ongoing advocacy efforts have been invaluable and the Forum presents your best opportunity to hear the latest advocacy updates, directly from those at the negotiating table.

A year of change

This year marks the first Pharmacy WA Forum under the new leadership of the WA Branch. It was with regret that we accepted Branch Director Matt Tweedie’s decision to finish up in his role at the end of June. Matt has worked tirelessly to support the Guild, the WA Branch and our members for the past 15 years. We congratulate him on his efforts and his contribution to our sector and wish him well in his future endeavours.

As with every transition though, there are opportunities. We were delighted that Anthony McAnuff accepted our Branch Director role and I and the Branch Committee look forward to working with Anthony across the coming years.

We’ve also seen significant political change this year. Pharmacy WA Forum regular former WA Premier Mark McGowan announced his resignation in late May, after some six years in the position and over twenty-five years as a state MP. The WA Branch had a very positive working relationship with the former Premier and we were very pleased that this extended to his official opening of the last two Pharmacy WA Forums.

The departure resulted in Roger Cook sworn in as the 31st Premier of Western Australia. The WA Branch welcomes Premier Cook to open the Pharmacy WA Forum 2023. The WA Branch has already had several encouraging meetings with the Premier and, as a former Minister for Health, are confident that he understands and values the community pharmacy sector.

Free Flu Program

Western Australia was the first Australian state to conduct a Free Flu Program in 2023, and in its second consecutive year, it has been a great success with over 500 participating. Over 40 percent of all Western Australians who received an influenza vaccination through the state government’s Free Flu 2023 program, did so at a community pharmacy.

Strong demand for pharmacyadministered flu vaccinations has delivered, to the end of June 2023, a level of pharmacy administrations almost equal to that of 2022, and twice the number administered in 2021.

The WA Branch was very pleased to have partnered with the Western Australian Government in this second year of the Free Flu program, and with such strong support from the public, it has reinforced the importance of community pharmacies in providing an accessible, convenient, and safe vaccination destination.

At a time when there continues to be difficulties accessing other vaccination providers, community pharmacies remain the logical location for vaccination and our involvement continues to deliver positive outcomes for individual patients and to the community.

Looking forward

Through the last twelve months several Australian states have made progress in this area, including for appropriately trained community pharmacists to be able to provide structured prescribing for the continued supply of the oral contraceptive pill and antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections in women.

The WA Branch continues to work closely with the WA government and the Department of Health on these opportunities, and on ensuring that remuneration models appropriately reflect the value you bring to the healthcare system for these services.

Given the looming threat of 60-day dispensing, the Pharmacy WA Forum 2023 presents the opportunity for the community pharmacy network and our key stakeholders to come together. This event is more important that it has ever been. Early Bird registrations close on Friday 21st July so I urge you to register now to avoid disappointment. Head to www.pharmacywa.com.au to secure your registration.