Pharmacy Daily | Continued Dispensing urgent

THE Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has called on the Federal Government to reinstate full continued dispensing arrangements (PD breaking news) as widespread flooding continues to impact people in NSW, Vic and Tas.

PSA National President, Fei Sim, issued a statement yesterday echoing a similar call by Pharmacy Guild of Australia Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone (PD 18 Oct) who noted that the flood crisis had hit the state just days after Premier Daniel Andrews had ended pandemic-related declarations - limiting pharmacists' ability to provide emergency supplies of prescription medicines.

The PSA update saw Sim (pictured) note while pharmacists are working harder than ever to ensure patients have access to the medicines they need, "their hands are tied when it comes to supplying prescription medicines to those who have been most affected".

"We have been speaking with pharmacists who are staying open and trying to help patients with intermittent power, water damage and without stable phone and internet lines," she said.

"They have told us the watered-down arrangements are putting them in the impossible situation of having to deny reasonable requests for lifesaving medications or risk losing their AHPRA registration by breaking the law," Sim added.

The PSA President noted that requests were for common medicines like anti-depressants, antiarrhythmic, anticoagulant and antiepileptic medicines, that are dangerous to suddenly stop taking.

"In a disaster situation it is the patients on these sorts of medicines who will suffer without permanent continued dispensing arrangements in place.

"This is unacceptable...the current continued dispensing arrangements are simply not fit-for-purpose."

Sim said despite the previous pandemic-related continued dispensing initiative running successfully for more than two years without any known safety incidents, the Federal Government had reduced the number of eligible medicines from over 900 to just 168 from the beginning of Jul.

"It is vital the full PBS continued dispensing list is restored, as it guarantees access to full PBS quantities Australia-wide for people affected by an emergency.

"After two years where this problem has been solved, it feels like we've gone back to Groundhog Day again," the PSA President said.

"We cannot wait for the next natural disaster to revisit this issue yet again...restoring full continued dispensing permanently will help improve our disaster response and protect the post-disaster health of our communities," Sim concluded.