By Suzanne Greenwood, Executive Director
Last week, National Councillor Greg Scarlett and I attended the Regional Aged Care Summit in Mildura in rural Victoria. Greg is widely regarded as an expert on aged care and so I am grateful he joined this important event.
Mildura is in the federal seat of Mallee, represented by Dr Anne Webster MP who is the Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health and who organised and hosted the summit.
Being in rural and regional Australia she values the local pharmacies in her community.
The Guild was invited to the summit along with approximately 100 other delegates from around the country mostly representing aged care peak bodies and providers.
Shadow Minister for Health, Senator the Hon Anne Ruston also participated in the one-day summit which was facilitated by Dr Nick Coatsworth.
The focus of the summit was the challenge for rural and regional Australia of caring for our older Australians, and how we all come together to support those in residential aged care and those needing in-home care.
Of the seven topics covered, one was of particular interest to us - “Medication Management and Pharmacy Dispensing Prioritising Outcomes”.
Every home care and residential care provider I spoke with told me about the critical relationship they had with their local community pharmacy and their local pharmacist.
It was very encouraging to hear how highly regarded pharmacies are, after all the local pharmacy is central to all Australians as they progress from their 50’s and 60’s into their 70’s and 80’s, going from being independent to requiring some form of care as we age.
While the level of aged care may change as we progress through our lives, a constant is the primary healthcare provided by the local community pharmacy.
Aged care providers spoke of the pharmacist’s role as crucial to maintaining that strong continuity of care. Providers particularly acknowledged medicine reconciliation, quality use of medicines support, dispensing services (routine and emergency), home deliveries and dose administration aid services as valued by them and those they care for.
Shockingly, changes to dispensing quantities from 30-days to 60-days dispensing will significantly impact the ability of community pharmacy to continue to provide all of these services.
At the summit, this was identified as a challenge to the aged care sector and to the ability of the sector to provide appropriate care to older people.
Aged Care is already a sector in crisis. Successfully addressing the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety recommendations and appropriately resourcing the solutions is hard felt in rural and regional Australia.
The last thing the bush needs is a challenge to the consistency of care pharmacists provide to older Australians.
It’s why our campaign against the federal government’s rushed implementation of 60-day dispensing has resonated so much with communities in rural and regional Australia.
This month the Guild rolled out our national campaign to ‘Save Your Local Pharmacy’ with a website and advertising on print, TV, and radio. These resources are being targeted to the communities in which we need to raise awareness, discussion and debate in the town square.
On this website, you can add your voice to ask the government not to implement 60-day dispensing when it has no solution that ensures a vibrant and sustainable community pharmacy sector into the future.
We all like the headline of cheaper medicines, but the summit in Mildura demonstrated that once the consequences of 60-day dispensing are explained, there is deep concern about how this policy will negatively impact our most vulnerable Australians.
