The Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch has called on all Western Australian political parties and independent candidates in the 2021 State General Election to support a greater role for community pharmacy in the delivery of primary healthcare to all Western Australians.
In releasing its 2021 State General Election Platform, Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA (PGAWA) Branch President Andrew Ngeow comments that “this platform is essentially providing a plan for the next term of government to better utilise the community pharmacy network within Western Australia’s primary healthcare system.
“The platform has been provided to all political parties and we are seeking their endorsement for its implementation.”
The 2021 State General Election Platform seeks commitment to:
- Increase Western Australians’ access to vaccinations (including when available, a COVID-19 vaccine) through an expanded community pharmacy immunisation program.
- Ensure the most vulnerable of Western Australians have a continued supply of medicines in time of emergency and disaster through maintaining the ‘Covid-19’ Continuance of Critical Community Pharmacy Services’ model.
- Establish a strategic reserve of essential medicines for the Western Australian community.
- Work cooperatively with the Commonwealth Government to retain the temporary medicines dispensing changes introduced in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and implementing these by introducing appropriate state-level authorisations.
- Include PGAWA on committees focused on Western Australia’s emergency and disaster (including pandemics) planning and preparedness, response and recovery measures.
- Engage with PGAWA to develop an implementation plan for the pharmacy-specific recommendations of the Sustainable Health Review and the Review of Community Pharmacy Ownership in Western Australia.
- Review the Commercial Tenancy (Retail Shops) Agreement Act 1985, with consideration to include: a moratorium on the rental increase for a transitional phase of at least twelve months from the end of the COVID-19 Emergency Period, and a guaranteed ‘departure with dignity clause’ for businesses that become insolvent through the COVID-19 Emergency Period.
- Encourage career pathways for pharmacy and dispensary assistants by providing financial incentives for their training at Certificate II-IV levels.
