Changes
just don't seem to occur to any major extent.. Incremental changes
do occur but only after a long period of gestation.
There are people around that do not want to see change because they
would have to move outside the "comfort zone" they find
themselves in and would be uncomfortable in any other situation.
There are other people who argue against change because it may not
be conforming with existing practice standards - almost as if the
present standards are sacrosanct and should not be changed.
Or there are the ones who rest with the law as to why something
should not happen.
In neither of these last two considerations is there any thought
to changing the standards or the law.
They believe that progress or change should not happen if the present
day laws don't encompass the proposed change.
It is as if someone on a higher plane has decreed that there will
be no change in standards or laws for a set period of time.
In 1978 the Pharmacy Guild of Australia turned 50 years of age -
originally it was formed in 1928 from separate organisations in
the Australian States known as "master pharmacists" organisations.
At the Guild "Jubilee" conference held in Canberra papers
were given by a range of stakeholders (although they were called
"interested persons" in those days!) who put forward their
views on how pharmacy would look in the year 2000 and what changes
should occur in a staged process to allow these goals to be achieved.
The Guild National Council set up a small working party to plan
the increments of change that would be needed to shape the community
pharmacy in the year 2000 in the way the conference had heard it
should.
Items such as being paid for professional services; developing two
distinct models of the supermarket or professional looking business;
mandatory continuing education; and increased status for dispensary
technicians were among the predictions.
Now that the new millennium has ticked over, and the 75 years about
to pass it must be worth revisiting the 50th anniversary conference
and seeing whether a 75th anniversary conference would come with
anything much different.
The reason for the lack of change may be put down to some of the
features outlined above that have bedeviled the pharmacy leaders
over the years.
A "comfort zone" certainly.
The trouble is it does not confront the major change in the world
which is with the emphasis on the consumer.
In millennium 2000 this will become an all important factor and
the retail "comfort zone" must surely disappear.
The purpose for the Guild in 1928, now 75 years ago, was to become
a unified national voice for arguing the case for "master pharmacists"
against matters such as dealing with wage increases, negotiating
with governments, and banding together for better marketing deals
with manufacturers and distributors.
The wholesale suppliers to the retail chemist shop were cooperatives
owned by the "master pharmacists" and they ran the companies
and decided on policy direction.
A nice protected circle of friends all intent on making more money
out of their investments in chemist shops.
Not a bad intent at the time and probably for the 50 years to follow.
The existence of the Pharmacy Guild was justified very soon after
its formation with the possible intrusion into the Australian marketplace
of Boots the Chemist from the United Kingdom.
The powerful lobby of chemists was successful in having the laws
of the land changed to preclude any ownership of pharmacies except
a registered pharmacist.
In 2003 consumers want a choice.
They will vote with their feet when it comes to where they spend
their dollar.
The standards of the past and the laws of the 1930s may not be relevant
to this millennium, and these may have to change if the profession
of pharmacy is to remain a force in the health care industry.
It is to be hoped that the FIP World Congress to be held in Sydney
in September 2003 will recognize the 75 years the Pharmacy Guild
has been in operation and help it to determine the extent to which
the pharmacy laws and standards of the 20th century suit millennium
2000. |
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