We talk to Elżbieta Piotrowska-Rutkowska, president of the Supreme Pharmaceutical Chamber, about how pharmacists view 2023 and what challenges 2024 will bring for them.
Elżbieta Piotrowska-Rutkowska: I hope that pharmaceutical care will be implemented
Published Dec. 22, 2023 09:02
The year 2023 is coming to an end - how do pharmacists assess it?
It's been an intensive year, and a good one for us, because it brought an amendment to the Reimbursement Act, and thanks to it we have a reference to pharmacy margins and pharmacy on-call, which we have long sought. Maybe not everyone is happy with this amendment, but for pharmacists there are key provisions that we sought. There are also some with which we disagree. They concern pharmacy prescriptions. We seek to change them, because they will result in the closure of pharmacy prescriptions. We cannot agree with this. For us, the most important thing is the patient.
We continue to vaccinate at pharmacies, but I regret that this year's autumn-winter season is not the best for us. The procedures for contracting with the National Health Service are time-consuming and costly. I hope that the regulation and the law will change in this regard and we will be able to vaccinate against influenza, COVID-19 and pneumococcus in a very broad way.
I hope that next year will be a successful year for pharmacy, that pharmaceutical care will be implemented and will be valued, each of the pharmaceutical care services will have an appropriate value. We are trying very hard to achieve this.
The new year also means changes in our local government. I am very curious what path pharmacists will take, what their expectations will be from the new president and the new council. I hope and wish that the colleagues of the new pharmacy council will meet the new challenges.
