The Capital Chemist Charnwood is in the news again: 11 years after being named Guild Pharmacy of the Year, it has again taken home two of the final awards in the competition, being recognised for excellence in Community Engagement and Excellence in Harm Minimisation at APP25.

Co-owner Samantha Kourtis told AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh that government decisions, made without input from pharmacy, were a strong influence on her implementing a fee-for-service model.

“From the early days, I’ve been a huge advocate for charging [for] things,” Kourtis says.

“And 13 years ago I walked into this pharmacy. Everything was free, free blood pressure, free home delivery, free Webster packs, free consult with the baby nurse, free everything.

“And early on I was like, well, this has to stop.”

It simply wasn’t a viable business model, she realised – perhaps counter-intuitive given that Charnwood is one of Canberra’s lowest socioeconomic demographics, but as it turned out, customers are happy to pay what pharmacist expertise is worth.

She pointed out that she bought into the business in March 2010 – and that in October that year, the federal government announced accelerated price disclosure.

“I was in a real position where my business loan could have crashed and burned. The bank could have come in and taken it away because overnight the value of our businesses went down…

“And we’ve seen this happen several times over the last 10 years with what the government’s done.

“So it was my commitment to valuing the work that a registered healthcare professional did and my commitment to stopping the of services in pharmacy and then the financial pressure on me as a brand new young business owner that had to go, okay, well, I don’t want to pay my pharmacist award wage. I want to pay them well, because they do a really great job.

“So if someone wants to sit down with a pharmacist for a blood pressure check, they’ll pay for it. And that has gained momentum from then. And we were charging $15, 13 years ago, for a wound consult fee.”

01:40 – Becoming an award-winning pharmacy through the ups and downs

05:01 – What did winning the awards mean for staff and the community?

06:59 – Talking about harm minimisation in schools

08:07 – What it takes to being an award-winning pharmacy in this space

11:11 – Engaging with the community

13:22 – The viable business model

16:11 – Why $10 for a consult is “such a joke that is so disrespectful to our profession”.

17:01 – “Nobody complains really about the price.”

18:29 – What does being unsurprised in pharmacy mean to you?

21:10 – “I could not believe that the leaders in our country thought that [disparaging pharmacists over 60-day dispensing] was a good idea.”

22: 31 – “Actually, it doesn’t matter what I think. Doesn’t matter how I practise, doesn’t matter how much I care, things are going to happen. And that was quite freeing.”

24:11 – On being part of the scope trials

28:38 – What are the core values of your pharmacy?

31:35 – A challenge for pharmacists: be unsurprised

34:36 – A “vulnerable time” for pharmacy

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

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