Community pharmacy owners have questioned the Federal Government's expanded medicine dispensing policy, fearing it could lead to extra pressure on business operations.
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The government had announced a new policy ahead of this year's budget, to double to amount of medicine accessed each time at a pharmacy (60 days).
Designed to give consumers greater flexibility, the initiative has concerned some pharmacy owners, who say the policy, which comes into effect on September 1, could have significant financial effects.
Jennifer Nelson of Coady's Pharmacy at Caringbah, said her customers would be worse off.
"I'm going to have to look at the hours I keep my pharmacy open and the services I provide," she said.
"I don't want to be in a position of closing earlier and not being there for my patients when they need vital medicine and support."
She said even well-established pharmacies would struggle, and they may be forced to also slash front line services.
"We were established in 1946. I've owned for over 20 years after taking over in 2003, and in two decades, I've never come across cost saving measures that we will have to fund," she said.
"If it goes ahead as the budget predicted, we'd have to cut staffing hours. We couldn't offer the services we offer for free at the moment like Justice of the Peace and things we've always done like blood pressure checks and free advice for customers. We'd also have to charge for home deliveries.
"I can understand the convenience of 60 day dispensing, but what the government is failing to tell the public is that we are footing the bill. We are getting a 30-day dispense fee but providing 60 days, which in essence cuts our funding - our dispensary income, in half.
"As a small business in today's economic climate, who can survive that?"
President of the NSW Branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia David Heffernan, said the $3.5 billion reduction would make it harder for patients to get medicine, advice, and services from their pharmacist.
"We welcome common-sense health reforms. But at the same time, they're asking 6000 pharmacies to support more patients while cutting 50 per cent of their funding. It just doesn't add up," he said.
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