Over 1,000,000 signatures for community pharmacy
Sep 20, 2013
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The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has collected over 1 million signatures on its Pharmacy Under Threat petition, making it the largest ever petition to be presented to the Australian House of Representatives.
The Executive Director of the Guild, David Quilty, said: “This is an extraordinary response. Our sincere thanks to all the pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and pharmacy students around Australia who have personally contributed directly to this amazing campaign. We have had tremendous support from many quarters across the industry, so thank you to all.
“It shows patients care about their local pharmacy services and value the professionalism of the committed pharmacy staff who deliver them.”
Records show that the largest petition ever presented to the House of Representatives stands at 792,985 signatures (a petition objecting to increases in beer prices).
The pharmacy petition will be presented to the House of Representatives Petitions Committee next month to have its content and the number of signatures collected verified. The petition campaign, which concluded on 14 September, finished strongly – with around 300,000 signatures collected after the Federal Election.
“Every signature counts in terms of sending the clearest and strongest possible message to the Federal Parliament that Australians do not want their pharmacy services and local pharmacy jobs put at risk,” Mr Quilty said.
The Guild will be engaging at the earliest opportunity with the new Coalition Government on Labor’s shock pre-election changes to price disclosure. The Guild wants to achieve a solution that addresses the impact of this change on pharmacies, their staff and patients.
As we enter into these discussions, the success of the Pharmacy Under Threat petition provides a very clear signal that community pharmacies and their loyal staff enjoy the strong support of the Australian public.
Media inquiries: Greg Turnbull 0412 910261
PETITION
This petition of certain citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House a recent announcement by the Federal Government, without consultation, to change the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and reduce what is paid to community pharmacy to dispense medicines. This PBS change will ultimately put at risk the viability of community pharmacies across Australia.
We therefore ask the House to take whatever action is needed to ensure that community pharmacy receives the funding support it needs to stay in business, serve patients, employ staff and remain open after hours