Pharmacy Daily | Ramsay pharmacy push

Listed private hospital operator Ramsay Health yesterday flagged a major expansion of its pharmacy operations, with the aim of establishing community pharmacies across the country.

Speaking at the release of the company's annual results for 2015/16, Ramsay Health Care md Christopher Rex said the aim was to continue to meet the growing needs of a population with an increasing chronic disease burden.

"Drawing upon the experience we have gained in the operation of our 200 hospital pharmacies across the world, we have commenced a strategic plan to extend our services beyond the hospital walls.

"To this end, we are in the process of establishing strategically located community pharmacies across Australia, concentrating initially in close proximity to our hospitals," Rex said.

He said the move would allow Ramsay to provide extended services to its patients, "including participation in the provision of care to the chronically ill".

Currently there are about 20 Ramsay Pharmacy locations in Queensland, NSW and Victoria and this number looks set to surge under the strategic plan.

The project would see the pharmacies offer specialised medication management and 24/7 medicine on-call advice, in addition to a number of community- based services and clinics.

Rex said the pharmacy plan would provide patient pathways from the hospital back into the community, offering post discharge services from Ramsay hospital patients.

"We have 71 hospitals in Australia - if we were to just populate the patient catchment areas of those hospitals with pharmacies, it soon adds up to a big number and that is certainly our intent.

"Because we buy so many drugs around the world, we negotiate appropriate prices to reflect that, so from a commercial point of view we can make these pharmacies work well," Rex added.

Ramsay reported a $481.4 million net profit after tax, an increase of 16.8% for the year to 30 Jun.