THE National Pharmaceutical Services Association (NPSA) stated recently that it is bracing for medicine demand surges when 60-day dispensing is introduced and is calling for "an industry-wide consultation process to begin immediately to properly consider all aspects of the new policy and manage medicine access".
The NPSA chair Richard Vincent (pictured) says that the introduction of longer dispensing will trigger "a range of complex new systems and logistics issues" for wholesalers and retailers and contingencies will be required.
The NPSA said it expected demand surges would occur in particular at the beginning of the change.
"The potential for surges can occur for many reasons, including a pandemic or regulation changes," said Vincent.
"Our experience tells us to expect similar behaviour and medicine availability challenges if the 60-day dispensing measure is implemented as proposed," he explained.
"In addition, there is a range of complex new systems and logistics issues relating to 60-day ordering and distribution," Vincent concluded.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia ran a survey of 1,500 members and found a majority were planning to scale back opening hours and services, and four in five pharmacies that provide aged-care health services are planning to discontinue the service, as reported in The Australian.
The Guild added the average pharmacy stands to lose $170k a year in revenue due to this measure.
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