Pharmacy guild and govt’s peace deal already at risk after question time protest
A truce between the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Federal Government could be on shaky ground following another pharmacy lobby group’s protest at Parliament House.
The guild stopped campaigning against the government’s 60-day dispensing policy last week after Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler fast-tracked negotiations for the next Community Pharmacy Agreement by a year.
It has given the guild a chance to renegotiate compensation for pharmacies that will lose out on dispensing fees when patients fill double-length scripts.
However, on Monday, around 200 pharmacists were accused of heckling government ministers from the public gallery during question time.