Extra staff hired but more needed as Covid-19 puts chemists under pressure

Giving vaccinations and dispensing thousands of RAT tests daily - Omicron is taking a toll on local pharmacists with chemists on the hunt for more qualified staff. THEIR CALL FOR HELP >>

TASMANIAN pharmacists are hiring extra staff and hunting for more qualified pharmacists as the pandemic continues to add significantly to their workloads.

Acting president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania John Dowling said

his pharmacy in Latrobe sold 2000 rapid antigen tests in the first three days of this week - primarily to concession card holders who receive them free under a Commonwealth scheme.

The chemist business is then reimbursed for those tests.

“We have one partner pharmacist who is working full time giving Covid-19 vaccines. We could take on two or more extra on if we could find them,” Mr Dowling said.

“We have put on extra staff on the pharmacy floor to help with the workload.”

It comes as as a new survey finds pharmacists are “overwhelmed, burnt out and exhausted” as the Omicron surge takes its toll.

Pharmacist John Dowling of Terry White Chemmart at Latrobe who has sold out of RAT kits.

Professional Pharmacists Australia CEO Jill McCabe said the pandemic, topped off by a lack of adequate planning and preparation by the Federal Government, had taken a terrible toll on Australia’s employee pharmacists.

“For over two years, day-in, day-out, pharmacists have been on the front line in the battle against Covid-19, providing vaccinations, dispensing medications and providing information and other services,” Ms McCabe said.

“Over 79 percent of pharmacists said their pharmacy was not adequately staffed to deal with the increased demands placed on it.”

Ms McCabe said the severe shortages of rapid antigen tests had also brought enormous pressure.

One pharmacist survey respondent said: “There’s not enough staff to handle the 100 phone calls an hour asking for RATs whilst doing 80 vaccinations a day on top of the regular workload of a 400+/day scripts for the pharmacy.”

The vaccination workload has also increased exponentially as a result of increasing infection rates, the acceleration of the third booster dose for adults and the roll out of vaccinations for young children.

“We’ll continue our calls for the Federal Government to ensure that rapid antigen tests are distributed in a range of settings, making them free and accessible to all community members who need them. This will reduce some of the pressure on employee pharmacists,” Ms McCabe said.