Community pharmacy ‘worn thin’

INCREASED workloads stemming from changes in the way the public interacts with health professionals during the COVID‐19 pandemic, is pushing community pharmacy to its limits, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Na onal President, Trent Twomey, warns.

Speaking at the Consumer Health Products Australia (CHP) Virtual Conference, yesterday, Twomey noted that the pharmacy sector had kept its door open throughout the crisis ‐ while other professions had opted to provide care through telehealth ‐ despite safety concerns, the consequences of maintaining access to medicines have started to emerge.

“Community pharmacists were just as scared and worried for themselves, their staff and their pa ents, as GPs were, the two professions handled this crisis in a very, very different way,” he said.

“Community pharmacies stayed open, we donned up in personal protec ve equipment.

“We did not shut, we did not reduce our hours, we were scared, our staff were anxious and that’s coming out now in a lot of post‐ trauma c stress [and] fa gue.”

Twomey warned delegates that when their sales representa ves get back on the road in the coming months, that they will be engaging with red pharmacists, many of whom have been unable to take a break for more than 18 months, due to workforce shortages.

“The hospital departments have ramped up with pharmacists, paying ridiculous amounts of money on short‐term contracts for them to be able to run their vaccination clinics,” he said.

“And there haven’t been any new overseas trained pharmacists come in, because the borders have been shut.

“So we’re red, we’re worn thin, we may even be a little grumpy, so please don’t take it personally, rock up with a flat‐white ‐ something like that will go a really long way.”