Job losses, medicine shortages: Pharmacists fear ‘threat’ of 60 day dispensing
Tasmanian pharmacists fear they may be forced to charge for health advice previously offered for free, due to government changes to dispensing medications. DETAILS >
Tasmania
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Tasmanian pharmacists say they may be forced to charge for health advice that has previously been free due to government changes to dispensing medications.
They fear the changes will lead to job losses, medicine shortages and the closure of some small Tasmanian pharmacies that are already struggling.
Health Minister Mark Butler has announced that people will be able to buy two months’ supply of medication rather than one when they collect their script, which will slash the cost of 320 medicines on the PBS and save patients up to $180 a year when it comes into effect from September 1.
Kristina Fox who has a pharmacy at Rosny Park said she would be “absolutely crushed” if 60 day dispensing resulted in changing the role of the community pharmacist.
“I became a pharmacist because I wanted to provide good quality patient care regardless of socio-economic status,” Ms Fox said.
“I am worried this may result in a fee for service in pharmacies and further widen the gap between those who can and those who cannot afford it – it would be terrible.”
Ms Fox said while 60 day dispensing “sounds fantastic” it would lead to medicine shortages and a cut in services.
“Pharmacies will be forced to scale back their opening hours meaning patients wanting to access medicines late into the evening or on public holidays will miss out,” she said.
“Medicine shortages will be exacerbated which will make it harder for people to access the medication you need.
“Unfortunately you cannot cut $3.5 billion from pharmacies and expect them to continue to operate in the same manner and offer the same level of service.”
The majority of community pharmacies across Tasmania, were Ms Fox said, small businesses and while some were profitable enough not to reduce some staff the future of others was uncertain.
“Some are barely surviving and they will have to make the difficult decision to cut staffing because if they do not make radical changes to their business model then they will have to close,” she said.
“Mr Butler has mentioned that the government will reinvest a proportion of money back into community pharmacy for programs. But this requires capital outlay including being able to afford not only the staff we employ now but additional for service provision.”
Risdon Vale pharmacist Katie Hayes said pharmacists worked in challenging times including the Covid pandemic and during natural disasters.
“Take the fires in the Huon Valley in 2018-19, where pharmacists stayed behind to care for their communities,” she said.
“Our communities remember well what we did for them during the most challenging times of COVID. Pharmacies stayed open!
“We supported our communities, did our best to alleviate their fears.
“When vaccinations became available for us to provide, we squeezed in every person that we could, every day, despite being undervalued by our government and paid substantially less than our health colleagues to provide the exact same service.”
Greg Finlayson has run his Shoreline Pharmacy at Howrah for 37 years and employs about 25 staff.
“In its present form it’s a big threat to the sustainability of the business,” he said.
“I’m all for affordable medication but the issue here is the lack of consultation and the load it will put on the supply chain.”
Bellerive pharmacist Rhys Jones said he had never seen anything like the changes proposed.
“It’s just been thrown at us, it is the worst time to be making these changes and is a real kick in the teeth,” he said.
“If we can’t survive by dispensing we may have to charge for advice which deflects them from going to the doctor.
“In Tasmania we have single pharmacists in East Coast towns who may end up closing.”
Pharmacy Guild Tasmanian vice president John Dowling said 60 day dispensing would place more strain on the current supply of prescription medications.
“We believe that reducing the current co-payment amount would ensure that patients receive cost of living relief without disrupting medication supply chain so all patients receive the medications they need,” he said.
“Secondly, this policy places stress on pharmacy viability and that may have further patient access implications across services that pharmacies offer, including opening hours, preparation of medication packs and patient deliveries.”
Mr Butler has rejected suggestions the PBS changes could worsen medication shortages which he said were due to Covid and worldwide. He also understood opposition to the changes.
“The first thing that I recognise is that the job of the pharmacy lobby group is to support the profitability of pharmacies, and I understand that, we all understand that’s what they get paid to do,” he said.
“We know there will be millions fewer GP visits to get repeat scripts, because instead of having to go every six months, these patients will be able to get their script, plus their five repeats, every 12 months instead of six.”
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