A new report claims a bleak future is ahead for pharmacies due to the introduction of 60-day scripts
The federal government introduced 60-day dispensation for prescriptions in the budget earlier this year.
It will allow Australians to pick up two months’ worth of prescriptions at a time instead of one month, from September 1, reducing the price paid for medication overall.
”Every year, nearly a million Australians are forced to delay or go without a medicine that their doctor has told them is necessary for their health,” Health Minister Mark Butler said ahead of the budget.
“This cheaper medicines policy is safe, good for Australians’ hip pockets and most importantly good for their health.”
But the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has consistently opposed the move, citing the strain on medicine supply and the burden on pharmacists.
Now, the Guild says, a new report from CommBank and the University of Technology Sydney shows the bleak outlook for pharmacies.
The Commbank Pharmacy Insights Report 2023 found that 79 per cent of pharmacists were reviewing free services by charging for them instead, while 62 per cent were looking to reduce the number of assistants they employed.
A slim minority of 48 per cent were considering reducing their opening hours, while 66 per cent of pharmacists expected the value of their business to decline during the next three years.
Read Related Also: Kim Kardashian shines in glow-in-the-dark ‘uranium bikini’
Uncertainty among pharmacists has also plunged by more than half between last November and May this year.
Guild president Professor Trent Twomey claimed the report supported warnings that 60-day dispensing in its current form would leave the community worse off.
The report follows a survey by the Guild of 1000 pharmacists which showed 23 per cent had already changed their trading hours and 250 jobs had been lost.
Among the free services under review are blood pressure monitoring, dose administration aids such as webster packs for aged care facilities and home delivery of medicines, the Guild said.
Twomey said the Guild was not opposed to 60-day dispensing, but wants it introduced without damaging patient services and threatening the viability of community pharmacies.
”All pharmacists want cheaper medicine for their patients and we are ready, willing and able to sit down with the government and make sensible adjustments to the policy so patients, aged care residents and pharmacists aren’t negatively impacted,” Twomey said.
