Pharmacy Daily | Well-capitalised sector set for growth

THE average spend by consumers is increasing with total pharmacy spend rising from $92.5m in Jul 2019 to $123.7m in Jan 2023, as shown in the Data-Driven Insights 2023: Pharmacies on the healthcare frontline report released recently.

The Westpac Group using data insights drawn from the activity of 11,322,068 of its cardholders and 632 community pharmacies from Feb 2019 to Jan 2023, and in collaboration with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, showed an increase of 33.7% in pharmacy spend from Jul 2019 to Jan.

In-store pharmacy services are growing says Westpac and as consultation numbers rise, pharmacists are upskilling for delivery of services.

According to the Pharmacy Guild Members Survey 2022, 70% of consumers sought pharmacist advice in the 12 months to Jul 2022.

Businesses are evolving to accommodate the expanding volume and range of services on offer while investing in IT infrastructure in response to ongoing digitisation.

According to the Guild Members survey 64% of its members have either changed their business model or practices fundamentally, very or quite substantially, in the last three to five years.

Investing all around for a new tomorrow was highlighted further as the Australian Digital Health Agency showed that 114 million e-prescriptions were issued since May 2020.

Westpac Group data found that the growth of in-store pharmacy spending in the wake of COVID-19 looks likely to stick, as consumers continue to channel more of their pharmacy spend in-store than online across all jurisdictions.

In response, the percentage of total pharmacy spend grew in-store from 58.9% in Jul 2019 to 79.8% in Jan 2023, the Westpac data found.

Healthcare reforms have made medicines more accessible and affordable as PBS co-payments came down from $42.50 to $30 on 01 Jan this year (PD 26 Oct 2022), while the remit for pharmacists looks set to keep expanding.

Westpac data showed that the pandemic spike in pharmacy spending has stabilised, and spend per basket decreased by 17.7% in Feb 2023 compared to the same time in 2022.

However, data throughout the study period from 2019 to Jan 2023 showed an overall upward trend, with an average spend per basket at pharmacies increasing by 8.6% from $34.80 to $36.80.

"Panic buying had stabilised by 2022 but, for most of our membership, the year was defined by the scale of people sourcing rapid antigen tests and COVID-19 vaccinations from their community pharmacy," said Trent Twomey, Guild's National President.

"The result is that our sector started 2023 in a well-capitalised position and most of the network has held on to working capital to ensure that they could increase their stock levels," Twomey said.