The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s new telephone campaign began this week after it identified Reid as an electorate which is likely to suffer adverse changes – including job losses and cuts to trading hours – because of the new rules of switching from 30-day dispensing to 60-day dispensing.
The changes come into effect from September 1 and would allow patients to receive double the number of 100 medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical benefits Supply (PBS), including those that treat diabetes, depression, reflux, high cholesterol and many others.
The Guild, which has forecast more than 20,800 jobs cut and the closure of 665 pharmacies nationally, will campaign “until the Albanese Government negotiates a solution to ensure the viability of all community pharmacies”.
President of the NSW Branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, David Heffernan, said many pharmacists feared that the only way they could stay afloat would be to cut jobs and charge for some of the free services they now offered, but also impacted on residents.
“Many will have to cut back on their opening hours, meaning patients will miss out on vital medicines and health services on evenings or weekends – and some will have to close entirely,” he said.
