A major campaign against 60-day dispensing has been stalled by the offer from the government to revisit the agreement within the 8th Community Pharmacy Agreement, which has been brought forward to commence on 1 March 2024 to satisfy the Pharmacy Guild. 

Pharmacy Guild President Trent Twomey said that cheaper medicines could and should be achieved without negatively impacting community pharmacies.

But pharmacists across the western plains are still feeling the pressure as the uncertainty continues.

“The Pharmacy Guild of Australia remains committed to working with the Albanese Government to deliver cheaper medicines in a way that does not adversely impact the viability of community pharmacies, or patients’ access to community pharmacy services,” Mr Twomey said.

“We must ensure the core clinical service of community pharmacies, the dispensing of prescription medicines, is remunerated appropriately to help ensure these opportunities for a greater role of community pharmacists in delivery of patient care are realised.”

Locally, pharmacists on the ground are wary of what the new agreement might look like. 

“It’s the first time in history the Community Pharmacy Agreement has been pulled forward, a significant change has never happened during an agreement…they’ve broken that agreement,” Narromine pharmacist Sara McCarthy said. 

The broken agreement has caused hesitation in trusting the politicians behind the decision. 

“I do worry about negotiating with the same people that have done this and tried to destroy our viability,” Ms McCarthy said. 

“I would have never implemented a scheme as big as this without consulting the people that it was going to directly affect…but I suppose we’ve just got to leave the professionals to do their job.”

Not all happy to wait

Despite the agreement by the Pharmacy Guild and Albanese Government to shelve their campaign in favour of a new, closer agreement, other pharmacists have continued to protest the 60-day dispensing laws.

On Monday, 4 September, members of the Community and Pharmacist Support Group gathered at Parliament House to rally in protest of the law. 

Addressing the rally, Leader of the Nationals David Littleproud suggested negotiations should be finished by Christmas to minimise time pharmacies are exposed to the 60-day dispensing rules. 

“ …we've got no doctors. It is the pharmacists that stuck with us. It's the pharmacists that have stuck in regional and rural Australia,” Mr Littleproud said. 

The Pharmacy Guild has stated their intentions to continue working with pharmacies that are most impacted by the 60-day dispensing to ensure their viability remains intact while negotiations start.