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The Paris Attacks – an Impetus for Community Pharmacy to be an Emergency Triage Point
Recently, I have written two articles relating to triaged services from a pharmacy environment and how community pharmacy could be integrated into a public emergency system. In these articles I made the proposition that Location Rules night have more meaning if pharmacies were able to be strategically located throughout Australia because of the need to…
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Our Thinking and Thought Leadership is Reflected
I2P has long espoused that community pharmacy has deep roots embedded in patient centering and engagement and has won all of its “stripes” on the basis of all the things that our antecedents did right. Those “roots” were responsible for our unique style of “over-the-counter prescribing” as well has building a market in compunded prescriptions…
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The Rules of Engagement For Practice Pharmacists Being Debated
The two leadership organisations, The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) have been involved in preparing position statements in respect of pharmacists working within the environment of a GP practice. At this point in time I have been able to find a reasonably comprehensive document published by the PGA,…
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Public Forum Sydney to Discuss the Government’s ‘No Jab No pay’ Policy
The Australian Federal government is planning to amend its social welfare policies to make the continually expanding national schedule of vaccines compulsory for children of all ages to receive government welfare benefits. In this proposed legislation, the Social Services Minister is removing conscientious objection to vaccination (a medical intervention) based on ‘personal, philosophical or religious’…
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Homeopathy and the APLF – What’s Wrong With This Picture?
It’s not so long ago that i2P asked me to investigate the NHRMC investigation into homeopathy, because of perceived bias. Go to: Homeopathy – A Political Diversion Rather Than a Valid Issue This was requested because i2P was receiving information regarding the manipulation of orchestrated attacks on some health modalities, in particular homeopathy and chiropractic.…
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Health Out of Pocket Costs Will Impact Pharmacy
The following information was recently released by the AIHW which is showing a trend for government spending to remain a constant while private expenditure is trending upwards. “Total expenditure on health was estimated at $154.6 billion in 2013–14, up by 3.1% on 2012–13 in real terms. Growth in expenditure per person was $6,639, which was…
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The Final Statistic
There is no more ‘final’ statistic regarding drug use than overdose deaths. And in England the official figures go back to Victorian times, then often involving opium, laudanum and other strong drugs including alcohol. The British Coroner’s Act of 1844 was ahead of its time and even pre-dated the famous Broad Street Pump reports of…
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Pharmacy Paradigm Shift is Occurring – Vision Still Needed
Australia needs a new vision for care models and funding to ensure healthcare remains sustainable and accessible into the future, according to a report published by the George Institute recently, following consultation with various health organisations. “The report recognises the growing burden of chronic disease as a driver in increasing health costs. Evidence of this…
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Pharmacists – Who Works for your Best Interests?
Now that the dust has settled around negotiations for 6CPA and that word “certainty” has crept back into the vocabulary once more, we are supposed to now relax and get on with the job of future-proofing the profession of pharmacy. But what “certainties” can we count on? With the current business model still having a…
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A question for the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott
Currently the Abbott government is removing parents’ right to choose how many vaccines are injected into their children’s bodies in the first 19 years of life. The new social welfare policies called ‘Choices for Families” are removing all objections to vaccination other than a medical exemption signed by a doctor. This means that families will not be…