RURAL pharmacy owners are expressing concerns that they will have to reduce trading hours in response to changes to the Rural Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance (RPMA).
In a statement released by the Rural Pharmacy Network Australia (RPNA) today, one Queensland pharmacist outlined his plans to adjust to reduced RPMA payments.
"We currently open five and a half days a week, but I intend to reduce trading to weekdays only," he said.
"This year has seen our wholesaler do away with its Sat morning delivery service that I had enjoyed for the past 20 years, due to the costs of making the delivery on a Sat morning.
"So if we get a script after 2pm on a Thu and we need to order the stock, the patient can no longer have it on Sat, but now have to wait till Mon - or Tue if it is a direct distribution or a fridge line.
"So Sat have lost their 'functionality' as far as a day of getting medication to patients: this will be the most likely place we will trim costs."
A Western Australian pharmacy owner revealed the changes to the RPMA had forced them to reduce hours and to reconsider participating in the COVID-19 vaccination campaign.
"I have reduced hours on a daily basis, now closing 30 minutes for lunch," the owner said.
"I will be monitoring other days of the week to assess viability and make a future call on this too.
"I have also reduced staff hours.
"I have not participated in the COVID vaccination program because paying for extra staff - ie another pharmacist - to cover the time involved is totally out of my reach.
"I haven't reduced my costings of Dose Administration Aids as yet - we have a large elderly population so I need to be careful with this."
A NSW-based pharmacy owner said the increases in funding for other Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement funded services did not offset cuts to the RPMA experienced by a number of rural and remote pharmacies.
"In fact, since many of the services either require a second pharmacist or a high volume of customers to be feasible many small turnover remote and isolated pharmacies find themselves worse off," he said.
"Those that have lived in small remote rural communities understand the importance of the community pharmacy.
"For many residents it is their only contact with health professionals."
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