Changes to Pharmacy Location Rules
September 27, 2011
Changes to the rules governing
the location of pharmacies in
Australia will preserve a network
of community pharmacies in
appropriate sites across Australia.
The changes, to come into effect
from 18 Oct this year, will update
the rules in a way that will make
them more transparent and effective.
They have been agreed by both
the Department of Health and
Ageing and the Pharmacy Guild.
The Pharmacy Location Rules are
in place to regulate the
distribution of pharmacies, and to
ensure Australia has a well
distributed, sustainable and
accessible pharmacy network.
Under the amendments, an
existing pharmacy PBS approval is
no longer required before a new
pharmacy can be established in
facilities such as shopping centres,
large medical centres and private
hospitals—or in towns where there
is only one pharmacy.
In relation to towns where there
is only one pharmacy, this means a
proposed additional pharmacy
which meets all other criteria for
approval, may be approved
without the need to relocate an
existing approval number.
The changes also include
streamlining some of the previous
rules, as well as simplifying the test
for determining that there are a
sufficient number of people who
would use a new pharmacy.
The National President of the
Guild, Kos Sclavos, said the Guild
supported the changes in the
interests of the long term
sustainability of what is widely
regarded as the world’s best
practice community pharmacy model.
More details of the changes
can be found at
www.health.gov.au/ACPA
A Q&A document on the changes
can also be found on the Guild
website at www.guild.org.au under
News and Events.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 27 Sep 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 27 Sep 11
