Pharmacists to issue scripts
May 4, 2010
PHARMACISTS will be able to
issue repeat prescriptions for some
conditions under the Fifth
Community Pharmacy Agreement,
which was signed by the
Government and the Pharmacy
Guild yesterday (PD breaking news).
Guild President Kos Sclavos said
the “medication continuance”
measure would see patients able to
have repeat prescriptions
dispensed, initially for oral
contraceptives and lipid modifying
agents, with expansion to other
disease states envisaged over the
life of the agreement.
“This is the most significant
increase in scope of practice for
pharmacists since I graduated,” he
said, with the measure set to
significantly reduce the burden on
the health system.
Under the change, pharmacists
will be able to supply a single
standard pack of continuous
therapy medicine under specific
circumstances in the absence of a
current prescription, with the aim of
“facilitating patient adherence and
prevent treatment interruption due
to the inability to obtain a timely
prescription renewal.”
Implementation of this measure
will take some time as it requires
changes to state and territory laws,
and the agreement provides $1
million for the development of
protocols and IT modifications
required to implement the program.
The agreement also covers a
range of other initiatives detailed in
this issue of Pharmacy Daily, but
the fine details of funding won’t be
released until after the upcoming
Federal Budget next Tuesday.
The Guild confirmed the pact
would commit the govt to spending
more than $15 billion over the five
year agreement period - about $1b
less than previous forecasts, with
some savings due to no indexation
of the wholesaler Community
Service Obligation payments or
dispensing fees over the initial
period of the agreement as well as
the scrapping of the 40c per script
PBS Online incentive.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon
said the agreement “will ensure all
Australians continue to have easy
access to essential medicines under
the Pharmaceutical Benefits
Scheme, by providing security and
certainty for Australia’s network of
5000 community pharmacies.”
Other features of the agreement
include a new ‘patient service
charter’ which “clearly identifies the
level of patient care that can be
expected from any pharmacy,” as
well as an expansion of professional
program funding - and the
retention of the community
pharmacy location rules.
ABOVE: Sealing the deal - Guild President Kos Sclavos and Health
Minister Nicola Roxon, with onlookers Toni Riley, head of the Guild’s
negotiating team; Dr Phuong Pham, senior policy adviser from the office
of Nicola Roxon; Guild Executive director Wendy Phillips; and Kim Bessell,
Principal Pharmacy Advisor Dept of Health and Ageing.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 04 May 10To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 04 May 10
