The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has congratulated Labor leader Anthony Albanese on his election results at the weekend’s election.
Guild Acting National President Nick Panayiaris said that after a tough election campaign it was time to get back to business and help provide ongoing certainty for Australia’s community pharmacies and their staff.
“It’s been a tough few years for the community pharmacy sector and the new Government needs to ensure these practices remain confident about their future so that in turn they can continue providing the services their communities depend on,” Mr Panayiaris said.
“The Labor Party has long been a strong supporter of community pharmacy and recognises the important role that community pharmacists play in the healthcare sector.
“Never has this been more evident than with Covid-19 when bringing pharmacies into the vaccination rollout helped to get the program back on track.
“We need the new Government to build on this impetus by ensuring community pharmacies can continue to provide the medicines and services their patients need.
“And we need to go further.
“We need to see pharmacists working to their full scope of practice.
“At present they are under-utilised and by allowing them to provide the full range of services they are trained for will help ease pressure on doctors, hospitals and emergency departments while keeping communities healthier.”
Mr Panayiaris said the Guild looked forward to Labor implementing its election promise to reduce the maximum general PBS co-payment to $30.
“Making medicines more affordable for all Australians is a priority and we will work closely with Health Minister designate Mark Butler to help implement this measure,” he said.
“In addition, we will continue to look at ways and strongly advocate to improving medicine affordability for our patients.
“Our patients and their wellbeing must come first.”
