I am varying off what I planned to talk about today, which is doing a deeper dive into consent in disabilities but I want to put my limited experience into the ring with the dispensing changes coming into effect and the flow on effects as there is a complex argument in this area so we are seeing that there is something that needs to be said about it so that pharmacies in regional areas are so much more than just the pharmacy and we see that if they shut down we see that there are major consequences.
However, there is something that we don’t talk about and that is the fact that they are talking to the pharmacy guild on this issue of being able to access more medications at once. It needs to be stated that the pharmacy guild is a lobby that protects owner pharmacists and not employee pharmacists.
We also see that the local independent pharmacy is one that we need to try and support because they are being priced out by the bigger chains that are not offering the same level of customer service.
I saw a lot of change when I was working in Community Pharmacy but the bottom line is that Community Pharmacies deserve to be protected as the location rules and the rules that only pharmacists can own pharmacies is a protection against the commercialization and massive corporatization of pharmacies. We do see chains but they are generally what you would call franchises and they have a bigger buying power when it comes to purchasing stock, and we see that in the modern age where everyone is on a tight budget, ( I know my take away coffees have become 7/11 coffees). We need to consider this as well for community pharmacy and see where they can take in other income such as doing much more professional services.
However, this relies on well-trained staff and techs, and I have seen people that are hesitant to trust that the staff are well-trained in what they do. As a person with a disability, this does scare me because people need to access their medications and the monthly dispensing was a good check for people who have chronic health conditions. it was also a good chance for staff to build relationships with the clients and to assist them financially when required. This could take form as a 7-day account or a store account for someone who gets their medication packaged and depend on this.
We also see that an opportunity that some community pharmacies have embraced is NDIS services. However, I see that this is a hard market to capture. So, we need to be aware of this as their larger providers have had massive price gouging which has significant consequences, and we need to be aware of it.
We are seeing a lot of fear around the changes to the current and upcoming dispensing rules, so I am going to do a deep dive into what is happening. The basics is that you can now get two months of medication for limited conditions at one time. However, to my knowledge, the Medicare rebates for the pharmacist haven’t gone up. Despite this, it still hasn’t gone up for doctors and they are passing on the cost to their patients.
We do know that things change, and I do see that the privatization of health care and disability care hasn’t gone well as they do go hand in hand. We see that things are progressing toward the provider having all the power. So, I am a great advocate of supporting independent pharmacies, and where possible, independent NDIS providers as this provides an opportunity for greater decision-making abilities.
Alongside this, we need to understand that pharmacies are in the core business of dispensing medications and without this, we are seeing that they are calling about medication shortages. We have seen through YouTube and TikTok that people are getting medications that are - what we would call - off-label, and this isn’t a great idea as it’s creating an atmosphere of mistrust in customers when they are refilling scripts and we are seeing a verge towards the Americanisation of health care in Australia. Medicare hasn’t kept up with the rising rates of inflation and I know that I have been in situations where I considered not accessing necessary healthcare via my GP. Instead, I had to go to the local walk-in clinic, which is unfavourable due to long waits, inconsistent receival of your doctor of choice, and lack of guarantee. This is a much less favourable option for most people, and for me, despite my health, I am on the journey to get back to work. Getting well enough for this is made difficult because it is such a struggle to improve my health when I can’t afford to receive the necessary healthcare.
I do worry about those who don’t have the money to get treatment. Consequently, these peoples' health outcome is significantly less positive than those who can afford it. This is the reality of health care in Australia as people are going to slip through the cracks. Or get left behind due to the fact that people need to be aware of this that money is tight for everyone at the moment and disability pensioners are feeling it much more and are starting up YouTube and blogs but these need capital and we are disengaged from going to work as we will lose the pension if I we work to many hours and this is a real disincentive to work and I see that sheltered workshops are becoming a thing of the past as they relied on being able to pay below award wages and this was not great.
In the past it has been great but not now due to the fact that this is essentially modern slavery. It was a great idea at the time as it gave people with profound disabilities who could follow simple directions something that they could do and could do well, I do admit that their are some people who will never be able to hold down a job but do great things in being able to attend a day center or being able to complete their therapies as well and I admire the people who care for these people but we need to be aware of the fear around the dispensing changes so this could be around, medication shortages, do the pharmacies have enough storage? Do they have enough staff to deal with the coming backlash from what is about to happen, are we ready for them to not have the buying power they used to?
There is so many unknowens about this and it makes sense but at the same time I see that community pharmacises wern't consulted on this and I see that this was an issue due to the fact that they need to be consulted and be able to work with the govement and what people don't realize is that the pharmacy guild only represents pharmacy owners and they
I know that I have very much strayed from my usual fare, but I feel that this needs to be talked about as things do need to change and we are seeing that some massive social changes are happening, and I am not sure how to feel about them at all.
So, things like the NDIS are game changers but we see that people need to be aware of the changes to be able to work with them as well.
We are also seeing a massive fallout from Covid lockdowns as well and we need to be aware of what is happening around us. As we are going through massive social changes and we are seeing a crumbling of what people would call the mainstream narrative as well, this being that the media doesn’t own the narrative due to the access to information on the internet and we are seeing a trend towards younger people very wisely turning off the TV and internet and getting into life as well as doing their homework on what they are hearing on the news so they are on social media platforms such as Reddit, YouTube, rumble and discord where they can essentially fact check what we are being told by the legacy media as well.
I am also seeing a trend in my own life back towards family first and I am not ashamed to ask for family support and to shop for clothing at op shops I am finding that this is a game changer as I look for work as well as being able to stick to a budget as well and this is something that I have struggled with for most of my adult life and feel that in a couple of years, I will need to hand over control of my finances to a family member.
However I do see that pharmacies need to embrace the opportunities that they have been given and work towards having many income streams as well so for me I am looking for traditional work in a community pharmacy but I see that this requires further training and development or for someone to take a risk on me with the blog and YouTube as I do have massive anxiety around money and this is a massive source of stress for me as well and I know that stress isn’t great when we have health issues as well, and I am wanting to heal myself and this is something that health care can help me to do as well.
So lets keep the conversation going and keep the pressure on the various department's so lets see what is happening and how we can support each other in these challenging times.
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