Location rules pitfall for Fern Bay

SINCE the recent opening of an Amcal pharmacy in Fern Bay, NSW, around a quarter of the town’s population have signed a petition asking the Federal Health Minister, Greg Hunt, to solve the area’s pharmacy density crisis.

Over 800 signatories are pleading with Hunt to fix the problem, which is seeing 3,300 people served by the one location, due to an unintended consequence of the pharmacy location rules.

Member for Paterson NSW, Meryl Swanson, adressed Federal Parliament Thu, lamenting the situation, and calling on Hunt to help solve it.

“This pharmacy...will serve over 3,300 people...that number is growing rapidly, with nearby housing developments mushrooming and under construction,” Swanson told Parliament.

“[The pharmacy] has immediately become an enormous asset for our area, however, the community is still without reasonable access to the supply of pharmaceutical benefits.

“Most of the customers at Fern Bay Amcal are pensioners, single parents or retirees without the option of driving themselves to another location.”

The situation has forced owner Alecia Hennessy to acquire an extra car in order for a team member to make a minimum of three trips a day to a pharmacy in Stockton to fill the scripts.

Of the situation, a spokesperson for the Pharmacy Guild of Australia said, “the location rules underpin the national network of viable pharmacies serving local communities wherever they are needed.

“Where an unintended consequence of the location rules arises, there is provision for the Minister for Health to make a Ministerial discretion in the public interest.”