More than 85% of community pharmacies in Western Australia are expected to come together with the Pharmacy Guild, the Western Australian government, and key stakeholders on 26 and 27 August, for the Pharmacy WA Forum.
The Forum, which will be held at Crown Perth, is set to shape policy, review clinical practice, and make plans for a viable, financial post-Covid future.
Reportedly, Western Australia’s Premier Mark McGowan will open the Forum, and is expected to address his government’s plans to work with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch to expand the contribution that the State’s community pharmacies will make to the health of all Western Australians and enable the profession to work at the top of its scope.
“This is a government that was provided with unprecedented power, and one, which made a number of commitments to community pharmacy at the 2021 State General Election,” says Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch President Andrew Ngeow.
“The Premier, Deputy Premier and the Minister for Small Business will outline the government’s commitments and discuss their impact on the way community pharmacy operates.”
Reportedly, the Forum features speakers and topics, which will not only assess the significant impacts of Covid-19 on community pharmacy’s provisions of services to patients but will also look at the big issues that the sector faces.
Mr Ngeow says that “the rapid changes” that occurred in the sector due to the Covid-19 pandemic such as e-scripts, supply chain disruption and retail leasing upheaval, “are set to continue and this year’s Forum will provide a critical lens on how and who will provide essential primary health care services into the future”.
The two-day program has been assembled into three distinct themes: regulation, clinical operations and profitability of community pharmacies.
“The WA Branch has a number of registration options and with spaces filling fast, I’d encourage all pharmacists to attend and be a part of the discussions on how pharmacy is changing and what they can do to ensure their service, profession and business is fit for purpose in the post-Covid world,” says Mr Ngeow.
