Peter Kelly
THE pharmacy cuts are a symptom of a greater disease — that disease is austerity. Pharmacy cuts are being implemented because of a belief in austerity. Austerity is the belief that you can revive a flailing economy by reducing government expenditure. Austerity believes you can reduce the deficit by reducing government expenditure, but there is no evidence to back this belief.
For nearly a decade, the government has been reducing spending (i.e. cuts) with the goal of reducing the deficit. However, the deficit has been increasing. This information has been processed and the solution is more cuts.
This is the equivalent of having a headache, and deciding the best way to treat it is to bang your head off the wall. When you bang your head off the wall the headache gets worse. You then decide that the reason the headache did not go away was because you did not bang your head hard enough against the wall and so you bang your head again, only this time harder.
I think we can safely conclude austerity does not reduce the deficit. But does it revive a flailing economy?
No.
Expenditure is the oxygen of the economy. Reviving a flailing economy by reducing expenditure is akin to resurrecting a suffocating person by further reducing their oxygen supply.
If people continue to believe in austerity and vote for politicians willing to enact austerity, pharmacy will always be at risk to present and future cuts.
If we want to fight pharmacy cuts, we need to fight austerity.
How?
In the next general election, ask all your candidates if they believe in austerity? If they say yes, actively canvas against them. For they are a menace to civil society and a serious threat to our beloved profession.