EDITORIAL

Targeting Roger Corbett
NEIL JOHNSTON
Management Consultant Perspective

As we are all aware, the foray by Woolworths into pharmacy has nothing to do with health and patient care.
Pharmacy is simply seen as a means of expanding a static Woolworths sales base.
Even the claims that Woolworths could do it cheaper sounded a bit hollow when a simple survey by a daily newspaper group, comparing a mail-order pharmacy to Woolworths, pointed to a significant overall price difference.
Pharmacy prices beat Woolworths "hands-down".
An embarrassed Roger Corbett (Woolworths CEO) hastened to assure the press that this had been somewhat of a technical oversight, and that it was not going to happen again.
Really?
What about when all the community pharmacies are destroyed?
Will prices remain competitive?
It was nice to see the tables turned for a change.

PHARMA-GOSS
With Rollo Manning
A regular column reporting the news behind the news

* WHEN TOO MUCH PR ARE IS ALMOST ENOUGH
* STUDENT PROTEST ILL CONCEIVED
* AUTOMATED DISPENSING
* GENERICS TO SAVE GOVT PBS MONEY
* THE NT CATCHES UP WITH PHARMACY OWNERSHIP
FROM THE 1930s

Australian pharmacy at war against obesity :
Part 1. Obesity the international terror
CON BERBATIS
A Pharmacy Researcher Perspective

In Australia the war against obesity commenced quietly for health workers on 18 September 2003 with the release of the National Health and Medical Research Council's (NH&MRC's) 'Clinical practice guidelines for the management of overweight and obesity in adults' (www.obesityguidelines.gov.au ). On 1 May 2004 a new chapter in the history of primary prevention and primary care in Australia' community pharmacies may unfold with the availability of the Schedule 3 (S3) agent orlistat the only efficacious non-prescription weight-lowering pharmacotherapy. This report proposes a national pharmacy strategy involving orlistat as a key weapon in the war against the overwhelming threat posed by obesity to population health.
This is a referenced but un-reviewed report so should be carefully interpreted.
It is delivered in two parts over two editions of this publication.

Consultancy - Will it be Now or Never?
KEN STAFFORD
Consultant Pharmacist Perspective

After last month's exploration of the realms of future pharmacy I thought that I would take a little time to reflect on where pharmacy consultancy stands at present.
Neil, when calling for this month's contribution, asked how accreditation was progressing in WA, so I thought I would do a little investigating.
AACP could not give me an exact figure on the number of pharmacists actually accredited here in the West but said that "there were lots".
I can accept that as being fairly accurate, given the number of pharmacists I have visited in my job over the past four years who have either received accreditation or who were working towards it.

All the 'Ps' - And the Underlining Driver of Change
PAT GALLAGHER
An IT Consultant Perspective

I have been more than a casual observer, perhaps voyeur, of the flack and general hubbub created by the Woolworths matter.
An issue that has lots of heat and passion well mixed in with a fair dose of politics.
Regardless of what happens today, next year and beyond, the spectre of grocery competition should be seen against the way things will be - not the way things are.
Then work out what the battlefield will look like and then decide how best to cope, one way or another.

For the Good of the God-Children
RALF DAHME
President ASMI
(Australian Self-Medication Industry)
A Speech delivered to the Pharmacy Practice Foundation

Having just become a godfather for the first time, I've been reflecting on what it means to have responsibility for nurturing potential and ensuring the continuation of the best things we have to offer.
Abraham Lincoln said that "A child is a person who is going to carry on what you have started....the fate of humanity is in his hands."

Hospitals are Making me Better
LACHLAN ROSE
Hospital Pharmacist Perspective

Having completed my pharmacy studies at university in 2003, my graduate year began in January this year at the pharmacy department of St Vincent's Hospital.
The shock of full-time work in a completely new environment ensured that I hit the ground running.
Four months on, I can honestly say that I'm still running.

THE SOLUTION IS SOLIDARITY
CATHERINE BRONGER
A Student Perspective

Editor's Note: As the ongoing battle with Woolworths escalated with official pharmacy, pharmacy students assisted by organising a demonstration, plus helped to distribute a petition against proposed NSW state legislation.
This galvanised support with the community at large, and has established a new dimension in the survival tactics of pharmacy.

An Update on the Government's Expert Committee
VAL JOHANSON
A Complementary Healthcare Council Perspective

Editor's Note: Since the recent PAN crisis, when a large number of complementary medicines were involved in a product recall, the Federal Government took the opportunity to establish an "expert committee" to work out new ways of controlling these products.
There have been some concerns as to the direction this committee would take, and whether the final result would be of benefit to the end user.
The following is a brief update.

Home Medication Management Reviews -
A Perspective from a Division of GPs with a few years behind us.
HEATHER PYM
Division of General Practice Perspective

MBS Item 900 - unique in the schedule, hailed the opportunity for General Practitioners to work directly with the pharmacists their patients see regularly and get paid for it.
The item also offers pharmacists the opportunity to expand their practice into the community and be reimbursed for cognitive services of home visiting referred patients and reporting medication related management problems to the GP with the patient's permission.
This medication management innovation has been established for more than three years. How is it all going?

Photo Marketing Association
LES BRENER
A Digital Imaging Perspective

The Pharmacy Group formed within the Photo Marketing Association's Australian Division a year ago will meet at the PMA's Annual Convention in Darling Harbour, Sydney on Sunday 23rd May 2004.
This will take place alongside Photo Imaging World, a huge exhibition of photographic equipment and materials.
The Convention itself and the exhibition run from Friday 21st May to Sunday 23rd May, with the DIMA (Digital Imaging Marketing Association) convention preceding it on Thursday 20th May.
Group Chairperson James Delahunty states that all pharmacists should be come very much aware of the changes in the photographic world and the effect on their profitability.
Major items of interest to pharmacists with the rapid escalation to digital photography will be the Digital Photo Kiosks, which are appearing in ever increasing numbers in both photo shops and pharmacies and in the main, are consumer operated, thus freeing up staff to handle other business.
In some cases these photo kiosks link in with point of sale registers and/or minilabs and this will also be a topic for discussion.
Other items to be mentioned will be Cameraphones and their current and future effect on the industry.
There will also be discussion on developing and printing services including conventional D & P in pharmacies, as obviously, many pharmacists cannot consider the expense of entering the digital world yet.