Pharmacy Daily | Monthly dispensing ideal for patients

CALLS to implement 60-day dispensing as part of the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA) could lead to poorer patient outcomes, 2018 Churchill Fellowship Recipient and former Pharmacy of the Year winner, Lucy Walker, warns.

Following a seven-week, world tour of pharmacies, Walker reported the countries where 90-day dispensing had been introduced, pharmacists had seen an increase in medicines wastage and a decline in medication adherence.

"Pharmacists had less contact with their patients to ensure compliance, wastage of medicines was apparent and less patient footfall led to pharmacy closures and amalgamations (which limits patient choice and access)," she said.

"Poor adherence to chronic condition medications like diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol leads to health complications, premature deaths and increased use of health services.

"The best interventions to improve compliance involve individualised face-to-face interaction with a health care professional.

"Also some patients will need medication supplied in more frequent instalments under a staged supply arrangement."

Speaking to Pharmacy Daily, Walker expressed concerns over the Consumer Health Forum of Australia's (CHF) recent pre-Budget submission pushing for 60-day dispensing, warning it could lead to similar problems, as 90-day dispensing has in other jurisdictions.

"In Australia, the current method of pharmacist follow up for patients with chronic conditions is monthly dispensing," she said.

"It is our ability to check in with how their blood pressure medication is going (BP readings/side effects), if they are still remembering to take their night time cholesterol-lowering medication (or they stopped it due to something they saw on TV) and to see how their mood is going with the drought (and starting the new SSRI from the GP last month).

"I would be concerned about how it could reduce our ability to care for our patients."