Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacists to issue scripts

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.

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