Federal government's changes to PBS prescriptions concerns Bendigo pharmacists

From September 1, patients with a Medicare card could be prescribed 60 days of medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) rather than 30 days - getting two months of medicine for the price of one.

Pharmacist and owner of White Hills Amcal Pharmacy, Sanjay Jhaveri, said the change would be a "real disaster" and lead to an increased shortage of medicine.

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"We spend so much time trying to look for alternatives for medication that are out of stock," he said.

"So then to give a 60-day supply to someone, it's going to be a complete disaster because there's so many more people who will then miss out."

Another pharmacist in the Greater Bendigo region, who asked to remain anonymous, said their pharmacy was already facing month-long shortages.

"I don't want to think about what will happen after having this [for] two months; two months dispensing, it's going to be worse and worse," they said.

Ms Chesters said the changes would positively impact pharmacy customers - especially those with chronic illnesses.

"This will really help people in our region who have to take medication every day, whether they have a chronic illness or whether they require it as part of preventative health," she said.

"What this announcement means is they will pay less for their medication they have to take every day ... they can get 60 days as opposed to the current restriction of 30.

"It means that you'll save about half, less trips to the doctor, less trips to the pharmacy, more money in your pocket."

Ms Chesters said medicine supply had been impacted by global shortages that were out of the federal government's control and there was an emergency stockpile available if a pharmacy fell short of stock.

"What [health minister Mark Butler] has said to me and to all of the MPs is it's the same amount of medication that you'd take in a year - you just can get 60 days up front as opposed to the 30 days," she said.

Another issue raised by Mr Jhaveri was the impact on his pharmacy's finances, as the cost of a month's medication would essentially halve.

"The problem is we actually use a dispensing fee to subsidise a lot of other services like Webster-paks, deliveries and all that sort of thing," he said. "If we basically just have half the income coming in, we will not be able to subsidise that anymore.

"So of course what will happen is that we'll actually have to charge more for Webster packs or possibly even stop deliveries or have to charge for deliveries."

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Ms Chesters said while the change would impact bottom lines, the federal government was committed to putting savings back into local pharmacies.

She said she was disappointed the Pharmacy Guild of Australia had pulled out of negotiations with the federal government, and they needed to "come to the table" to discuss how the government could support pharmacies financially.

"Every dollar that we've saved on dispensing fees, we're willing to reinvest back into those services, but they've got to be at the table to tell us where and how best to reinvest that," she said.

The Pharmacy Guild was contacted for comment.

Murray Public Health Network chief executive Matt Jones said general practitioners would need to decide whether to prescribe 60 days or 30 days of a medication, and the change could see doctor wait times reduced.

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"People are having to go to a GP too frequently to get the sort of medications that they need on a daily basis," he said.

"If we have people having to go to see a GP because they have to get a script for next month when they can go to a GP and have a script for 60 days, it reduces the amount of time that people are having to spend in waiting room.

"It reduces the number of people that are trying to make appointments, it reduces then the waiting times that other people that need to see a GP that they can access GPS locally."

According to the federal government, 113 medicines would initially be included in the change, including for conditions such as heart disease, cholesterol, Crohn disease and hypertension.

Once fully implemented, doctors would be able to prescribe a two-month supply of 325 medicines on the PBS.

Ms Chesters said the change would bring Australia in line with New Zealand, the United Kingdom, France and Canada.

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