Chemists pushed to their limits

CHEMISTS are collapsing under the pressure of dealing with 100 calls an hour from people trying to find Covid-19 rapid antigen tests, and they can’t source either the tests or the Covid-19 vaccines they need to carry out the booster rollout.

More than nine in 10 chemists surveyed by Professional Pharmacists Australia said they couldn’t get hold of the rapid antigen tests they needed in order to meet demand.

Chemist Warehouse chief Mario Tassone said it took three to four weeks after ordering the tests for them to arrive in stores.

The company received a shipment of 200,000 tests on the weekend but he said they were gone within the first five minutes of shops opening on Monday.

The PPA survey also found that one third of the 400-plus respondents were struggling to obtain enough vaccines to meet demand.

Staffing was also found to be an issue – 79 per cent of the pharmacists questioned believed their workplace was not adequately staffed to deal with the additional demands being placed on it, and many cited high employee absentee rates due to Covid-19 infection or isolation requirements.

Almost 50 per cent claimed their workplace did not have adequate health and safety measures in place to keep employees and the community safe, and 25 per cent reported having to buy their own personal protective equipment for work.

PPA CEO Jill McCabe said the situation was “beyond dire”.

“One pharmacist said there were not enough staff to handle ‘100 phone calls an hour asking for RATs whilst doing 80 vaccinations a day on top of the regular workload …”

The Therapeutics Goods Administration last week, paved the way for pharmacists to conduct point-of-care Covid tests in pharmacies.

PPA president Dr Geoff March called for the policy to be put on hold because it would add to the already heavy workload of chemists and could put them at risk of infection.