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WHEN
TOO MUCH PR IS ALMOST ENOUGH
A good public relations program must know when to stop. The ongoing
campaign of the pharmacy lobby against the push for pharmacies
in supermarkets has run the end of this stage of the campaign.
The danger is that if kept in front of the national media there
is likely to be grenades thrown that don't go off and can get
thrown right back.
This was evident when the argument was used by the Pharmacy Guild
that pornography on the Woolworths IT system could translate in
to a lack of confidence in the patient profiles of a proposed
supermarket pharmacy.
Well really? Is this valid and what evidence is there that a pharmacists'
computer might not be used to access porn. Maybe we are expected
to believe that the highly rated trust by consumers in their local
pharmacy can translate into trust they will not view porn.
In any event it was a doubtful argument that only goes to show
the shallow nature of the arguments.
Beware close this stage and work on some "good news stories"
for stage two - otherwise the consumers whose support is so desperately
needed and will tire of reading and hearing these weak arguments.
STUDENT
PROTEST ILL CONCEIVED
The fact that pharmacy students from Sydney University are disturbed
about the push into supermarkets only helps to emphasise the commercial
aspect of the entire debate. It is the presidents of the Guild
or the Society who have credibility when seen or heard arguing
that consumers will be disadvantaged but this is after 75 or more
years of experience of the peak organisations in the land.
When 2, 3 and 4th year pharmacy students start telling Roger Corbett
to back off one has to wonder what these same students would know
about the workings of the industry. The obvious lack of experience
makes the reader wonder if the whole campaign is not just geared
towards the future of the profession being looked after by the
profession itself without too much regard for the consumer.
Then it is revealed for all to read that the leader of the student
protests in the daughter of the national president of the Pharmacy
Guild. What a coincidence?
The question should be asked whether the pharmacy students are
presented with both sides of the ownership debate or are they
just swept along by the emotional rhetoric of the organisation
which has a purpose for being of looking after the business interests
of the pharmacy owners of today.
The pharmacy students would be better off spending their time
considering the ethical professional aspects of the job of a pharmacist
and how it can be modified to enable them to use the four years
of undergraduate knowledge they gain at university.
To come out in such a public way to support the commercial side
of a pharmacy business will only make the university hierarchy
question the need for a four year course if it is to turn out
shopkeepers.
Get back to the books kids and off the streets - leave that to
the big boys.
AUTOMATED
DISPENSING
How is it that there is such little discussion on the use of automated
dispensing machines?
Last month this magazine again alerted to the availability of
machines to dispense and give the productive time back to leisure
or professional function and still no real debate.
Maybe it is generally accepted that this will happen or are the
"head in the sand" pharmacy gurus hoping it will go
away if they say nothing.
Surely it would be better to embrace technology and bring it into
the fold rather than do nothing. The supermarket push is possibly
embracing this as a function of its pharmacies so the consumer
can use quality time with the pharmacist and not have to speak
to a lesser being or an overstressed pharmacist who is concerned
about checking the next prescription and is treating the counseling
session as a nuisance.
The community pharmacy profession has to consider how IT can be
embraced rather than wondering if it will come. Of course it will
come - so get ready.
GENERICS
TO SAVE GOVT PBS MONEY
Now it has come out that pharmacists get big discounts from generic
suppliers it may only be a matter of time before the "wholesale
price" on which the 10% margin is calculated is viewed more
as the price actually paid rather that the published list price.
At a time when PBS costs are so much under the microscope it may
only be a matter of time before the real cost of a product into
pharmacy is used to calculated remuneration.
Take care and think again when ordering a generic parcel. Maybe
the profit today is worth more than the foregone profit tomorrow
of most pharmacy proprietors.
THE
NT CATCHES UP WITH PHARMACY OWNERSHIP FROM THE 1930s
It is well
known that in the Northern Territory they do things differently
but the present debate over who should own a pharmacy really "takes
the biscuit".
While the
big end of the market in Sydney is up in arms about supermarkets
being able to own pharmacies, the Northern Territory has just
passed legislation that will bring it up to the 1930s everywhere
else, so that only pharmacists can own pharmacies.
Up until now
anybody could own a pharmacy in the NT, and yet the only one not
owned by a pharmacist is the Aboriginal health service owned Nguiu
Pharmacy on Bathurst Island.
The new ownership
law in the NT still has to be cleared by the National Competition
Council. The request for clearance by the NT Government will test
the mettle of National Competition Policy which seeks deregulation
unless there is a public benefit.
So is there
something wrong with no regulation?
Well in the
NT nobody seems at risk as a result of no law to say who can own
a pharmacy.
The Minister
for Health, Peter Toyne, told the Legislative Assembly last week
during the Second Reading debate on the Health Practitioners Bill,
that it was the view of the Martin Labor Government that:
"the
cost of establishing offences to ensure that non-pharmacist owned
pharmacies maintain professional standard was considered to outweigh
any gains from the increased competition."
Funny that!
There will only be a cost if there are any to regulate - at the
present time that is none.
And another
thing Minister Toyne- there is only 29 pharmacies in the NT -
not 78 as you stated to the Parliament.
My
quote of the month:
If a ship
has sunk, I can't bring it up.
If it is going to be sunk, I can't stop it.
I can use my time much better working on tomorrow's problem than
fretting about yesterdays. Besides, if I let those things get
me, I wouldn't last long.
Ernest
J. King
(1878-1956, American Navy officer)
Keep concentrating
on the future and accept the past for what it was.
Have fun
Comments and suggestion for topics to this column may be sent
to rollom@bigpond.net.au
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