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and Coles continue to make noises about having pharmacies in their
supermarkets, and there is evidence that the public would be pleased
for this to happen, a survey conducted some time ago showed that
what the public wanted in supermarkets were pharmacies, not as desirable
as toilets, but certainly next.
In response
to these threats by the big two in food retailing, more than 20%
of pharmacies seem to be saying they do not care about adopting
standards that would allow the public to have uniform expectations
of the level of service in all pharmacies.
Would this
lazy minority be as complacent if the government decided that
this lack of activity warranted removal of their approval numbers?
Then there
is the down-scheduling of ibuprofen.
The "West Australian" had an interesting article a few
weeks ago, copies of which the Guild circulated, that indicated
there was not too much intervention by pharmacists, or their staff
when a six month pregnant reporter requested some Nurofen.
Remember, this is in a state where S2 products must be kept behind
the counter, and customers cannot serve themselves.
Are pharmacies in the other states better because they have less
restriction on where the products are stocked?
It is unlikely that they have a firm process in place to ensure
there is no potential harm for customers.
Apparently
at least some pharmacies in shopping complexes are struggling
to make ends meet, the shopping centre operators seem to think
the pharmacies are much more popular than they are and charge
totally unrealistic rents.
With high rents owners must try to reduce their expenses in other
ways.
The most expensive variable expense is wages and salaries; there
is therefore pressure to reduce these with a consequent reduction
in service.
This in turn can make the comparison between existing private
pharmacies and the Guild's scaremongering of service levels from
corporate pharmacies a little ludicrous.
Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year
Terry Irvine
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