Pharmacy on a high pre bushfires

AUSTRALIAN pharmacists were optimistic about the professsion’s future before the dual impacts of the nation’s bushfire and COVID‐19 crises hit, the latest University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Pharmacy Barometer reveals.

Data from the annual report found confidence levels had surged by 10 points from 99 to 109 out of 200 in Nov 2019, compared with the prior corresponding period, despite uncertainty around nego a ons for the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA) at the time the “reading” was taken.

Former Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) National President, Warwick Plunkett, said the latest results reflected “the value of the 6CPA in stabilising the industry from a revenue point of view”.

The Barometer reported 42% of employee pharmacists saw their level of remuneration change in 2019 - up 12% from the 2018 report.

The report found 39% of respondents are now earning between $40-50 an hour, while 4% reported earning an hourly rate of more than $50, up from 0% last year, while the number of pharmacists taking home less than $30 an hour fell to 1%.

Despite 38% of respondents expressing concerns that interprofessional turf wars between GP and pharmacy organisations may damage the reputation of pharmacists, the report found pharmacists continue to have good relationships with their local GPs.

“It is in the interest of the healthcare system and patients that the two professionals are able to locally coexist collegially and collaboratively to improve outcomes,” the report said.