JENNIFER Nelson of Coady's Pharmacy at Caringbah, Sydney, said her customers would be worse off with the 60-DD policy, as reported in the Leader.
"I'm going to have to look at the hours I keep my pharmacy open and the services I provide.
"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," shared Nelson.
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 been an owner 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 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?" said Nelson.
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