Uhhhh … Merry Christmas, I guess?
The Pharmacy Guild is wrapping up 2024 in true Pharmacy Guild fashion by sending a handful of politicians stuffed voodoo dolls sporting the likeness of lobby group president Professor Trent Twomey.
Each doll, according to the Australian Financial Review, helpfully came with a handful of pins with which to stick it.
The “care package” also included a packet of the Guild’s ubiquitous (and, let’s face it, delicious) Glucogel jellybeans.
According the AFR’s Rear Window column, the voodoo dolls – aptly dubbed “Two-voo dolls” by The Australian Journal of Pharmacy – have quickly become the “hottest decoration in Canberra”.
Much to our disappointment, The Medical Republic was not among the lucky recipients. Judge for yourself whether our coverage should have earned us a spot on the Guild’s Christmas list.
The RACGP and AMA also failed to make the cut, and the Guild itself declined to say just who had been blessed with a white-coated effigy.
The lobby group arguably has a lot to celebrate this year: every state and territory has now implemented pharmacist-led prescribing for UTIs, pharmacists in Queensland can prescribe for an extended number of conditions and the Scope of Practice report was largely in favour of expanded scope for non-doctors.
In Tasmania alone, pharmacists have apparently treated 5000 instances of suspected uncomplicated UTI.
Then there’s the Doctor of Pharmacy title steadily progressing and the signing of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement with the health minister.
Of course, Pharmacy Guild results come at Pharmacy Guild prices: the membership fee for the owners’ association is $2600 per premises per year, $1000 more than full RACGP or AMA membership and around $1200 more than ACRRM membership.
The Guild made a net income of $28.4 million this financial year, an increase of more than $27 million on the 2023 year, largely driven by an increase in dividend income from one of its controlled entities.
It’s unclear which Guild-controlled subsidiary that the cash influx came from – perhaps it was a bumper year for jellybean sales?
It did, however, come close to maxing out its “fighting fund” reserve, which went from $4 million in June 2022 to $2.6 million in June 2023 and was down to $155,000 in June 2024.
Despite the scale of its influence, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has just 4102 members, making it roughly the same size as ACRRM, if not smaller.
Meanwhile, the AMA represents around 30,000 doctors collectively and the RACGP claims to have 50,000 members.
Good things come in small packages, we suppose – and speaking of packages, Trent, mate, if you just left us out by accident, there’s still time.
Pin your story tips to penny@medicalrepublic.com.au.
