11/08/2023
Ouyen Pharmacy supports affordable medicines. However, the Government’s 60-day dispense plan is too fast, without sufficient transition period.
The 60-day dispense policy a nutshell:
✅ Patients may receive two months of medication at the same time. In most cases, the cost to patient will halve - “buy one, get one free”.
❌ The pharmacy receives government funding only once per dispensed script. So 60-day dispense may ✂️ 📉 HALVE the government funding the pharmacy receives. Government dispensing payments accounts for the majority of our business’ income. So this will likely cause significant reduction in business profitability.
❌ “Buy one, get one free” at the expense of small independent businesses, like us.
✅ The Government acknowledges that their policy will have financially devastating implications for rural and remote pharmacies. So they have released a “rural transition assistance” payment.
❌ Ouyen Pharmacy is considered “too rural”, and “too small” so it is not clear whether we will actually be eligible to receive any transitional financial assistance at all. Meanwhile, pharmacies in Bendigo and Mildura will likely receive financial assistance instead.
❌ We have reached out to our Federal Senator politicians many times to come up with alternatives that will guarantee services to our community. So far, we are yet to receive a single response to our enquires over the past several months. Although Nationals MP Webster MP has been a tremendous advocate.
The purpose of this post is to provide update to important industry changes affecting our business. It gives context as to why we are forced to make some changes.
The 60-day dispense is pretty much going ahead. It is fantastic for patients ✅ , but terrible for small pharmacies like us ❌.
Now we are tasked with making some difficult decisions to ensure we can remain open, we can retain employment for our staff, and continue to provide at least some services to the community that we love.
Some of the changes we have made to brace for impact:
❌ To ensure we can keep employing all exisiting staff, we have decided to cut pharmacist hours instead.
❌ There is now no overlap between Pharmacist Nicholas and Pharmacist Alex
❌ Pharmacist Alex has decreased consulting time from 5 days —> 3 days per week. He has been forced to seek additional work in Mildura, outside of the community pharmacy industry.
❌ Our capacity to provide clinical services has reduced and this may result in increase wait times for appointments.
❌ All rural and remote outreach programs have been canceled, including vaccination pop-up clinics to rural and remote towns. Home vaccination services for patients who have access difficulties have also been canceled.
❌ Plans for investment in infrastructure (renovation) has been paused. This would have meant a boost in local employment such as work our local tradies.
What can you do to help?
✅ Visit https://saveyourlocalpharmacy.com.au/home/ for more information
✅ Please continue your tremendous support for our local small business. Every prescription matters.
Thank you to all of you who CHOOSE to support us by dropping off prescriptions before heading to Mildura or abroad. We really appreciate our community’s support and loyalty ❤️.
The Pharmacy Guild National President - Trent Twomey
Rural Pharmacy Under Threat - Rural Pharmacy Network Australia
Mark Butler MP
Anne Webster MP - thank you for your support
