The feature articles below are "opinion" pieces and reflect the views of the individual authors. They are not the views of AusPharm.net.au P/L, its directors or editorial group unless explicitly stated to be so.

Location Rules Rightly Benefit Pharmacy But Pricing Is Another Story :: Stephen G. Greenwood : 22/6/2010 : Australian Ministers for Health have always been pragmatic in supporting pharmacy while keeping an eye on the demands of the electorate.

Not so long ago we saw the Minister for Health and Ageing, Nicola Roxon, intervene to approve another pharmacy in Colac in response to so called community dissatisfaction and a petition from over 4000 souls wanting greater competition by which they clearly meant discounted drugs.   More...

Proposed Board Dispensing guidelines :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 10/6/2010 : An issue causing considerable debate in the profession at the moment centres on dispensing technicians and the draft guidelines over their use.

The debate hinges on the Pharmacy Board of Australia’s consultation paper on guidelines which addresses this issue, albeit not to the satisfaction of many in the profession.

The PBA proposed national guidelines follow almost to the letter those already in effect in Victoria and put succinctly, stipulate that a pharmacy technician must be supervised by a pharmacist, and that a pharmacist must not supervise more than one pharmacy technician.   More...

How the other 'arf lives :: Wendy Morton : 8/6/2010 : Servier's slick removal of its Diamicron 30mg MR from the PBS this month to make way for the simultaneous listing of their latest innovation - wait for it... a SCORED 60mg tablet - was highlighted this week on AusPharm in a thread started by Kristine Hall:

The good folk at Servier, driven as they are by "the medical needs of humankind" promptly contacted AusPharm to enlighten us as to their rationale: "The availability of Diamicron 60mg MR as a scored tablet, removes the need for Diamicron MR 30mg, and it's for this reason Diamicron MR 30mg was discontinued and removed from the PBS, June 1. This was very much in the interests of patients, doctors and pharmacists, considering (that) Diamicron 60mg MR provides patients the opportunity to reduce tablet burden, which may aid compliance."

Reduce tablet burden, eh? Removes the need for the 30mg tablet? Does it? REALLY??   More...

The Pad everyone is talking about :: Jason Bratuskins : 1/6/2010 : Apple's newest device, the iPad was released in Australia on Friday, amongst much media flurry. It’s now time for AusPharm to contribute to the flurry.

The iPad is, on first glance, an iPhone on steroids, but castrated with the removal of the phone part. It’s an absolute piece of art, beautifully crafted, a pleasure to use, with some pleasing surprises and notable limitations.   More...

Who would want to be a wholesaler? :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 27/5/2010 : The news that South Africa’s biggest drug maker, Aspen Pharmacare, has made a $707 million takeover bid for Sigma Pharmaceuticals raises a number of issues for pharmacy.

If the bid is successful, the merged company would become Australia's biggest prescription drug supplier, with more than one in 10 scripts potentially filled by an Aspen-Sigma product.   More...

Tax and loyalty programs :: Stuart Gardner : 25/5/2010 : Consumer loyalty programs, and in particular their associated tax status have garnered some attention in the press recently.

JR Pharmacy Services Stuart Gardner has sent us a brief article spelling out the rules relating to these programs.

"The Australian Tax Office has previously issued various rulings and determinations to address in which instances the utilisation of rewards points will be assessable, from both an income tax and fringe benefits tax perspective."   More...

Pharmacist found with Junkie Lesbian Prostitute Dwarf* :: Bruce Moffat : 18/5/2010 : Or "10 O'clock closing is for sissies"

After so many week's of 'serious' features we thought it time to introduce a litle light relief!

In today's feature Bruce Moffatt recalls the joys of working in an ALL night pharmacy in London in the 1980s.

"It was Peter Allen I think (well it would be wouldn't it?) who lamented the travails of running a late night pharmacy a while back on the 'list.  It's funny but even now after many many years, the conjunction of the words 'night' and 'pharmacy' is still enough to send me into a vortex of whatever it is that you vortex into when you triturate the memory of fear with the delicious romanticism of nostalgia."   More...

A new era in pharmacy? :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 13/5/2010 : The Federal Budget on Tuesday night provided details of the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement (5CPA) including the news that the total funding is $15.4 billion over the five years, up from the $11.6 billion in the Fourth Agreement.  Of particular note is that this is an increase of $300 million over the $15.1 billion suggested when early indicative details of 5CPA were released late last year.

This additional $300 million has primarily been allocated to patient-focussed professional programs and was made available after PSA received a receptive hearing by the Minister and the Department of Health over the need for more patient-focussed programs in the Agreement.   More...

Primary Health Care Organisations - where do pharmacists fit in? :: Ron Batagol : 11/5/2010 : In response to the recent Federal Government announcement that Primary Health Care Organisations (PHCOs) are to replace Divisions of General Practice (1), the Pharmacy Guild has stated (AusPharm 13/4/10),  that it “sees pharmacists as having a very significant role in the new primary health care landscape and believes this should be reflected in having pharmacist representatives on clinical boards and governance boards”

But I have to say, with respect to the actual type of patients and the clinical scenarios envisaged in the new PHCO arrangements, if  the view expressed by the Guild  implies medication management of  these high-risk patients solely within the community pharmacy setting, as I presume it does, then unfortunately it falls far short of what is actually proposed in the PHCO concept.   More...

Fifth Agreement looks good but show me the money :: Stephen G. Greenwood : 4/5/2010 : Stephen Greenwood was Executive Director of the Pharmacy Guild during the negotiation of the Second, Third and Fourth Community Pharmacy Agreements.

In today's AusPharm feature he takes a critical look at yesterday's CPA5 announcement, exclusively for AusPharm premium members.

"All in all this looks like it will be a good Agreement for Pharmacy which embraces new areas of practice and complements what the Government is trying to achieve through its health and hospital reforms. Once we see the dollars in the Budget we will be able to know how good it is.

Given what’s been retained in a year when the Government is looking for massive savings it looks more and more like the Guild has dodged a bullet at least and pulled a few rabbits out of the hat."   More...

Where is primary and preventive health? :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 29/4/2010 : The devil is in the detail and as more detail emerges about the hospitals agreement between the States and Territories, the more questions it raises about just how effective the deal will be.

To reach the deal, the Federal Government had to stump up $4.5 billion in sweeteners to the States and Territories, a move which will make a huge dent in any funds available for programs in other health and social program areas.   More...

Medication charts as PBS prescriptions :: Gerard Stevens : 27/4/2010 : "I cannot imagine any change to the PBS that would have a greater and more beneficial impact on prescription management in aged care facilities and in pharmacies than the aged care facility medication chart being used as the prescription.

The doctor signed medication chart is the only accurate record of the medication order."   More...

An idiot's guide to buying a new dispensary computer :: Irwin the evil chemist : 20/4/2010 : Irwin's back - with advice on what you need to consider when buying a new PC for your dispensary.

"Buyer’s remorse and technological disappointment are two emotional states which can be easily avoided when determining whether a particular spanky new computer is the one that you want to make a part of your life.

The first and foremost rule of computer purchase and usage, much like many other ventures is life, is that of suitability to task. Next is optioning up. The cheaper ones in the ads are just to get you in. Frequently the price will double or treble to fully specify a decent workhorse."

    More...

PHCOs - get the process right :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 15/4/2010 : The announcement of the development of primary health care organisations (PHCOs) is a positive step in the ongoing march towards a truly collaborative health-care modal in Australia.

While details of how these PHCOs will operate have yet to be released,  it is clear the  network will support a range of health professionals, including pharmacists, in delivering primary health care in a consistent and accessible manner across all of Australia.

    More...

Stay the same and we may well become redundant :: Gerald Quigley : 13/4/2010 : AusPharm had the pleasure of meeting Gerald Quigley for the first time at APP recently - for those of you who don't know Gerald, he's a man with an opinion on most things and he's not afraid to share it with you.

In his first feature for AusPharm Gerald has a bit to say about how pharmacists should be engaging with their patients.

"I'm recently back from APP, and as a non-owner, I found myself in foreign territory! How is it that the reinforced outcome at each (self promoted) address was that we need to get involved with our patients? Well hello! Isn’t that what is profoundly fundamental to the profession in which we find ourselves?"   More...

Guild Roadmap lacks a destination :: PSA National President: Warwick Plunkett : 6/4/2010 : The announcement at APP by the Pharmacy Guild of the impending release of its ‘Roadmap’ for the future of pharmacy is disappointing in that it is clearly a rushed attempt to pre-empt the Issues Paper being developed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and announced in October last year, and to a large degree misses the main objective of a ‘roadmap’ - knowing where you want to go.

Consequently, the Guild’s decision to rush out its own version of a program-focussed paper has been met with a barrage of criticism which has been justified as the ‘Roadmap’ would seem to be of little benefit to the profession in its current form.   More...

Stopping smoking and other community health issues - why do we see pathologising as the only solution? :: Ron Batagol : 30/3/2010 : There was an interesting article recently in the Weekend Australian on the theme of “pathologisation” of smoking cessation. The article puts the view that drug companies are helping to foster the belief that giving up smoking is all but impossible without the use of NRT products.

Of course, raising the issue of pathologisation for smoking cessation opens up a Pandora’s box of issues in a wide range of medical prevention and treatment programmes.   More...

Trouble at t' mill :: Stephen G. Greenwood : 23/3/2010 : One of the most interesting presentations given at the Australian Pharmacy Professional this year focussed on the new Pharmacy Industry Award.

Marion Whalan, the Guild’s new hotshot Industrial Relations Manager with over 15 years experience in the field gave members the lowdown on the new IR world facing pharmacists and their staff. She co-presented with the equally knowledgeable employment lawyer Peter Frazer from Guild Lawyers.   More...

Run that past me again :: : 18/3/2010 : Every so often we pharmacists see our medical / nursing / pharmacist colleagues exhibit puzzling, if not downright bizarre behaviour.

Today's story is the first in an occasional series of tales of such incidents. If you have a similar story to share with your fellow 'listers, send it along and, if it's suitable, we'll publish it. Of course, we'll run all of these stories anonymously and de-identified to protect the innocent / guilty.   More...

Tax deductibility of pharmacy conference costs :: Stuart Gardner : 16/3/2010 : Back in January, there was some discussion on AusPharmList about the tax deductibility of costs associated with attending various CE activities (here).

At the time our good friends at JR Pharmacy Services said they's put together a brief article clarifying the rules relating to this for us. In today's feature, Stuart Gardner provides us with an overview of the main issues to consider.

"The pharmacy Industry provides many conferences over the course of any year and often we are asked about their related tax deductibility. The following overview should act as a guide only with any specific claims to be worked out in consultation with your own tax adviser."   More...

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This features page will be updated with new opinion pieces regularly. Unlike the hard copy publications that publish all their content once each week/fortnight/month we will publish on a rolling basis.

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