Ultan Molloy considers the recommendations of the Expert Taskforce and resistance to an expanded role for pharmacists
So we have recently had the recommendations of the Health Minister’s expert taskforce, which is in fairness fantastic progress and sets a short-term to medium-term vision for community pharmacy and our work as pharmacists. I can’t but feel excited and optimistic about what this could mean for pharmacists and our patients and customers. They remain recommendations however, and after 16 years of a pay freeze, and a “we’ll see how much money there is when it’s budget time” from the Minister, how quickly things move along will tell a tale.
Previous behaviour being the best predictor of future behaviour would suggest that there will be a number of obstacles along the way to overcome. The IPU is rightly recommending that we don’t go and run with extending services until we have financial support to provide them. It is the culmination of years of work by those involved in the union, present and past. I hope most community pharmacy owners have the cop-on now not to do that at this stage. We will of course see how it plays out.
Some GPs are kicking up of course, under the guise of ‘patient safety’, with the IMO concerned as always about patients. The fact that patients can’t get GPs to take them with medical cards, having to wait weeks to get an appointment (if you can get an appointment), along with a €50, €60 or €70 fee for private patient visits don’t present any obstacles to ‘patient safety’ of course.
With payments to GPs up over 70 per cent in the same 16-year period that we have had a pay freeze in community pharmacy, and patients still can’t get into them, I think it’s rich to suggest that patient safety could be any more compromised by safe and accessible professional healthcare in our communities. The entitlement and sense of ownership of patient care presented by one GP in a national newspaper recently just turned my stomach. The arrogance and bigotry of it all. No one profession owns patient care or is entitled to it.
The IPU is rightly recommending that we don’t go and run with extending services until we have financial support to provide them
Of course, we will still no doubt have obstacles at government level, with other IMO affiliated GPs no doubt determined to ‘protect’ patients and prevent ‘fragmentation’ of patient care… by ensuring that pharmacists are kept in their box, lest we be getting too big for our boots.
I know this attitude doesn’t reflect the mindset and attitude of the vast majority of GPs, and I’m referring to a handful of empty cans who appear to thrive off media attention and scaremongering, so hopefully their protests and attempts to block overdue and sensible progress in primary care will be seen for what it is.
The proposed initiatives, such as pharmacist prescribing and the country having a Chief Pharmaceutical Officer, given the billions spent on medicines annually, are decades past due at this point and very much the norm in other jurisdictions.
On the home front, to say we are looking forward to the kids going back to school and having a bit of routine again is an understatement. Our five-year-old was still up having the craic at midnight last night, like it was the middle of the day. Our ‘summer’ seems like it is yet to arrive, and while I’m all up for dressing for the weather, the rain gear has had way too much use this summer. The kids don’t seem to bothered, mind you.
The prospect of a long dark winter ahead without having had some sunshine feels daunting on one hand, and very much a first-world problem on the other.
Ultan Molloy is a business and professional performance coach, pharmacist, facilitator, and development specialist. He works with other pharmacists, business owners, and third parties to develop business strategies. Ultan can be contacted on 086 169 3343.
