Patient groups join Pharmacy Guild calls to halt 60-day dispensing

Three new patient groups are urging the government to pause the implementation of its 60-day drug dispensing shake-up amid warnings pharmacies are reducing opening hours, cutting staff, and hiking fees.

Adele Tahan, owner of Adore Compounding Pharmacy in Rozelle, holds concerns about the introduction of 60-day dispensing for pharmacists. Picture: Nikki Short

Three new patient groups are urging the government to pause the implementation of its 60-day drug dispensing shake-up, which begins on September 1, amid warnings that pharmacies across the country are reducing opening hours, cutting staff and hiking fees.

The Australian Patients Association, Pain Australia and Better Access Australia have joined the Pharmacy Guild in pushing to delay the policy, which Labor says will halve the cost of medicines and free up millions of GP consults.

APA chief executive David Clarke said he supported 60-day dispensing to ensure Australians had streamlined access to their medications but was concerned about the “impacts on community pharmacies”.

Mr Clarke called on the government, which is due to complete the eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement with Australian pharmacies in 2025, to bring forward the agreement immediately in a bid to resolve the concerns raised by pharmacies.

“With a short pause in the implementation of 60-day dispensing and early completion of the agreement, we can all be more confident that 60-day dispensing doesn’t cause unexpected closures of pharmacies” he said.

APA health ambassador and former deputy chief medical officer Nick Coatsworth said it was important to get the policy settings right for 60-day dispensing from the start.

“This is particularly important in rural and regional areas of Australia, where the pharmacy is a critical part of smaller communities,” he said. “Ensuring the concerns of pharmacies are ­considered in the Community Pharmacy Agreement, is a straightforward way of ensuring we get it right the first time.”

Pain Australia chief executive Giulia Jones said the policy should be delayed until the viability of pharmacies in rural and regional areas was guaranteed, while Better Access Australia chairwoman Felicity McNeill said cheaper medicines were worth nothing if there were no pharmacies to dispense them.

Health Minister Mark Butler said on Monday that the plan to allow 60-day prescriptions for common medicines would benefit six million patients. He also said the government was “determined to bring forward negotiations for the next Community Pharmacy Agreement by 12 months”.

“I’ve taken the view and I’ve heard the soundings from the Pharmacy Guild that we need to deliver that business certainty to pharmacies sooner than that,” he said.

But Mr Butler took aim at what he labelled the “scare campaign” from the pharmacy lobby and the Liberal Party against the 60-day dispensing plan, declaring “the government rejects it”.

The Pharmacy Guild has called on the Coalition, Greens and crossbench senators to back a disallowance motion in the Senate to block the government’s double-dispensing rules from coming into effect.

A notice of disallowance must be lodged within 15 sitting days of the regulation being tabled.

The Guild has consistently warned the policy – which will double the amount of medicine from a single script – will lead to pharmacy closures, medicine shortages and the loss of 20,000 jobs. It has been using new legal advice to persuade senators to delay the change and allow more time for consultation with 6000 community pharmacists.