Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation

Message from the ChairSeptember 2016

It has been a very busy and enjoyable past five weeks as Bill, Jo and I have travelled around Australia for the Review’s National Consultation Process. We heard from consumers, pharmacists, wholesalers and other interested stakeholders in all capital cities, major regional centres, such as Wagga Wagga, Cairns and Launceston, as well as remote areas, including Fitzroy Crossing, Whyalla and Yarrabah.

We are grateful to everybody who volunteered their time to meet with us and share their views and experiences. The Panel was fortunate to hold over 90 site visits and consultations with pharmacists, consumer organisations, Aboriginal Health Services, members of the medicine supply chain and state and territory governments during the consultation process. In addition, we engaged directly with over 900 people who attended our 15 public forums across Australia. The process has been both engaging and highly educative for the Panel.

The current consultation process culminates on Wednesday 7 September 2016 with our live national webcast. Broadcast live from Canberra at 7:00pm (AEST), we invite you to join the national conversation either in person or online through the Livechat facility and hashtag #pharmacyreview. More information is available on the Review webpage.

The Panel appreciates the number of written submissions received to date, and available on the Review webpage, and we encourage others to have your say on the questions raised in our Discussion Paper and on community pharmacy more generally. As we have emphasised during the public forums, we do not expect you to write lengthy submissions answering all 140 questions, but we are interested in the issues important to you. This may mean you focus on a single issue that you are passionate about or have some evidence to share, in the form of a one or two page submission to the Panel. We will equally consider all submissions received before the closing date of 23 September 2016.

I was happy to announce the release of our online survey at the recent public forum in Sydney. This is intended to give people another opportunity to engage with the Review. The smart survey will automatically direct respondents through questions relevant to them as a consumer, pharmacist or member of the medicine supply chain. We encourage you to have your say on the role of community pharmacy in your health care by completing the survey,

which takes about 20-25 minutes of your time. Please discuss the survey and share the link with your family, friends, colleagues or patients. This is an important input to the Review and will help to shape our thinking as a Panel. The survey will be open until 30 September 2016.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Kind regards

Professor Stephen King

Chair