EDITORIAL

It almost seems as though it were yesterday when the year 2002 began.
There have been disasters in the wider world, such as the Bali bombing, and it seems inevitable that the Australian way of life has been fractured forever.
Our sympathies are extended to any reader who was affected personally by Bali.

But there have also been successes within our own miniscule segment of this troubled world, and they really matter.
There is the Rollo Manning success of the Tiwi Islands project, the first aboriginal pharmacy in Australia, and the innovations being developed there are simple efficient, and delivering healthcare in a realistic and straightforward manner. The general approach to health and specifically the supply of pharmaceuticals, has become too complex in the general schem of things.
And because of this complexity, too expensive. The whole system needs to be simplified, as the Tiwi Island model has done, so that all elements of health can achieve some sort of balance and economy.

There is a second success, again in a rural/remote region of Victoria.
Ayron Teed has, over a five year timespan, reversed the loss of health facilities in the Rainbow/Jeparit centres in Victoria. She has melded a conglomerate of a hospital, a community pharmacy, a bulk store, the local Division of General Practice and up to 35 locums, into a functioning and efficient health unit.
Note the 35 locums-how was it done?
They are celebrating this success right now and if you read Ayron Teed's article, you will find that you have been invited to the party. If you can't attend, give a phone call and offer congratulations.

Our writers in total, over the past 12 months, from students to consultants, from academics to community pharmacists, have given a wide-ranging commentary on contemporary pharmacy in Australia, and for this I thank them one and all.

The year 2002 finishes up with a single issue in dominance, and that is who will control consultant pharmacy?
Will consultant pharmacists control their own destiny, or will they be dominated by sectional pharmacy interests?
I guess the answer will only come if the consultants obtain a "get out of gaol" card to set them free within (or out of) their current political structure.
Consultant pharmacy will provide the future leadership for pharmacists as a whole.
This future will only be determined for universal benefit if the competing factions acknowledge this fact, and gracefully give ground in a supportive fashion. To do otherwise is simply counter-productive.

This is the last edition of i2P for this year, and we appear again in February 2003.
May you all enjoy a happy, prosperous and peaceful Christmas and New Year.
Our Christmas card to you appears at this link.

Neil Johnston
December, 2002

BACK TO FRONT PAGE