COVID killed off 60-day dispensing

PLANS to introduce “60-day dispensing” are “gone”, as a result of the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on the medicines supply chain, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, George Tambassis, believes.

Outlining top-line details of the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (7CPA), during a media conference on Fri, Tambassis, the controversial issue, which was recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) in Aug 2018, was “gone”, and not included in the deal.

“COVID-19 played a critical role there,” he said.

“We have to be fair, it was panic stations in early Mar, it was obvious that if anyone provided or dispensed more than 30-days’ [supply of prescription medicines] we’d have a serious problem in this country.

“Other countries that are on more than 30-days’ supply like New Zealand, Canada and some European countries, they all went back to 30 days, because the supply chain is global.

“I can’t see that medicines supply chain improving anytime soon, so [while] it may have been a great idea two years ago, when PBAC recommended it, we’re living in a different world now.

“I think the Government realises that and acknowledges that, that’s why it’s not in the agreement - it’s got nothing to do with the Guild.”

However, in a video distributed to Guild members on Fri, announcing that the long-awaited 7CPA had been signed, Tambassis was less emphatic that 60-day dispensing will not reemerge in the future.

“[It] is not in the agreement, and we hope it is permanently off the table,” he said.

A Guild spokesperson told Pharmacy Daily, “we oppose it and do not believe it should be revisited”.