Pharmacy serving the neighborhood

Abstract

This article describes the evolution of community pharmacy in the Australian health system, and assesses its 
current and potential future contribu- tion to health care. A central theme is the unique extent and accessibility
of community pharmacy to the public, with a vast and dispersed infrastructure that is funded by private
enterprise. The viability of community pharmacy as a retail trade depends on a diversification of its service 
roles and retention of its product-supply roles. Initiatives by the phar- macy profession, the pharmacy industry 
and the Australian Government are likely to give commu- nity pharmacy an increasingly prominent place in
health promotion and primary, secondary and tertiary prevention, especially in relation to themanagement of
chronic diseases.