July 2020

The Health and Dis­ability System Review – Final Report Pūrongo Whakamutunga has been years in the making and its arrival last month much anticipated

The Pharmacy Council is planning big changes to pharmacists’ recertification from 1 April next year. The current points-based competency assessment system is to be replaced with an entirely new “trust and assurance” model. Jonathan Chilton-Towle gauges pharmacists’ reactions to the plan

Details about who will benefit from the $18 million fund for pharmacy announced last month are slow to emerge, leaving some wondering if it caught health authorities by surprise

Retail sales in New Zealand pharmacies are starting to bounce back after 12 consecutive weeks of “significantly lower” sales due to COVID-19, according to the latest figures from RPM Retail

The Health and Disability System Review panel’s vision for community-based services includes more integration, a funding ringfence and fewer DHBs. Jonathan Chilton-Towle asks what, if anything, it means for the pharmacy sector 

Medicinal cannabis should be available through pharmacies before the end of this year, says Sally King who heads the body representing New Zealand’s fledgling medicinal cannabis industry

Reporter Anna Lee shines a spotlight on a pharmacy document now gathering dust that many had hoped would lead to a much more equitable future with better outcomes for Māori patients

Hamilton pharmacist Ahmad Zareh on his daily Snapchats and efforts to improve the profession 

Newly fledged pharmacist Laura Pidcock’s heart is captured in one of New Zealand’s more remote beauty spots

Katrina Azer, pharmacy manager at the award-winning Longhurst Pharmacy, hopes for post-traumatic growth
from the COVID-19 rather than post-traumatic stress