Emma Pritchard
Clarence Valley pharmacist Michael Troy from Southside Pharmacy has voiced his concerns surrounding the Federal Government’s proposed changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which will allow Australians to purchase two months’ worth of medications for the price of a single prescription from September 1.
While Minster for Health Mark Butler said the changes would reduce the cost of medications for customers by up to 50 percent, and effectively slash the price of 320 medicines on the PBS, Mr Troy disagrees, claiming if introduced, the changes will have significant negative impacts on regional pharmacies and their local communities.
Citing medication stock shortages as already being a huge issue, Mr Troy said the proposed changes could result in customers potentially missing out on securing regular and essential medicines, large quantities of medications being dispensed into the community, the introduction of fees for services including blood pressure tests, possible staff cuts, and scaling back operating hours to compensate for lost revenue due to a reduction in dispensing fees paid to pharmacists by the Commonwealth.
Mr Troy also spoke of his safety concerns regarding the 60-day dispensing proposal and said while the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) recently announced the decision to minimise the number of paracetamol tablets from 20 to 16 per packet, amid fears of painkiller overdoses, patients potentially looking to overdose will be receiving a higher quantity of other medications in a move which counteracts the TGA’s aim to reduce harm from intentional overdosing.
“There is nothing about this proposal which makes logical sense for our local community, or for us as a small regional business,” he explained.
“The numbers crunch suggests that should this proposal go ahead, $170000 of revenue will be lost out of the average community pharmacy.
“Lost revenue has an impact on any small business, and there would have to be a way for us to restructure, either by a reduction in staff, or a reduction in trading hours and/or open days, which would reduce the community’s access to the services we provide.
“Patients will ultimately be worse off if this proposal goes ahead.”
The move has also been condemned by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
When contacted for comment, Federal Member for Page Kevin Hogan said he stands strongly against the proposal, and revealed he could not foresee it as possessing any positive inputs for regional businesses or communities.
Mr Hogan also revealed he will fight against the proposal.