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4 EDITOR’S LETTER EHDITOR’S LETTER ailed as an agreement for the bodies, such as the TGA, and most importantly, of how times, the Seventh Community these apply to you, because before she decided on a Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA) was career change she worked as a pharmacist in hospital and finally signed against a backdrop community settings, so she can relate to your positioning of challenges. Many even doubted better than most (pages 12 & 13). it would be completed in time, Opportunities are a key message in this issue. Our but the Pharmacy Guild did its Pharmacy Profile features Robin Salvestro from Soul job. Whether you’re a supporter Pattinson Drive Thru Pharmacy in Griffith, NSW. Read about or not, this is an agreement that community pharmacy his journey and how an idea can turn out to be a great has reached amid a global pandemic that followed chance to enhance your service offer (pages 28 & 29). catastrophic bushfires in Australia. Not exactly the best time to negotiate the fate of the industry for the next five years, but now pharmacy has some type of certainty for planning ahead. If one positive came out of the bushfires and COVID-19 and influenced the outcome of the agreement, it’s that I don’t think anyone, including health minister Greg Hunt, needed convincing of the vital role community pharmacy plays in primary healthcare, a positioning especially highlighted during the pandemic. Community pharmacy has been pivotal in assisting customers by not only providing medicines and services, but also keeping communities together when everything else seemed to be falling apart around them. We have constantly reported on the rapid response from pharmacists and their staff to adapt and keep going amid panic and confusion. Pharmacy prevailed, kept moving forward and, according to those key to the negotiations, the 7CPA is testament to the crucial place pharmacy has in the Australian health system (pages 9 & 10). Advertising and promotion of therapeutic goods has often been a source of confusion for many in the industry, including those of us involved in publishing. From your perspective there are also grey areas, such as social media, that more often than not can land you in trouble yet can also present tremendous opportunities when executed properly, especially in the current environment. Don’t fret, though. Even marketers who live and breathe in this space can find it hard to navigate and, since there are few changes coming our way in this regard, we thought it would be timely to talk to an expert in the matter of promoting health products and services. So we reached out to Emi Gosling, who’s been working in medicine advertising for a while, and asked some fundamental and practical questions. Her responses are sure to answer some of your own queries. She has a very clear understanding of the rules and regulations of government However, COVID-19 has changed the process of adaptation. Before the pandemic, businesses could enjoy lots of planning time to implement changes, but now this happens almost overnight. It’s called survival. You know this, as you were among the first to change operating systems, alter physical presence and train staff overnight while trading during the worst stage of the crisis. In the latest Pharmacy State of the Industry Report, we’ve identified more opportunities for you. The report focuses exclusively on the outcomes of COVID-19, with NostraData Director Mike Da Gama presenting insightful analysis on the effects the pandemic has had, and is still having, on pharmacy. He pinpoints clear opportunities and offers tips that are easy to adopt (pages 31-42). One of this month’s CPD articles, ‘Protein supplements and kidney damage: should we be worried?’, is especially interesting because many people are self-managing the intake of protein supplements without the intervention of a health professional, and sometimes this can have a negative impact. It’s a very timely read, as many are emerging from isolation and keen to get back into shape (pages 78-81). Meanwhile, Shannon Kerr has a look at how to best equip your business to resume normal operations. She covers the theoretical as well as practical aspects of adaptation following the easing of some restrictions during this critical transition period (pages 50-53). Overall, this issue is again packed with insightful information that we hope you find compelling and useful. Managing Editor RETAIL PHARMACY • JUL 2020