Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Just yesterday, I was standing in a pharmacy waiting for a script to be filled, and I was struck by a sign announcing a $5 fee for blood pressure checks, a service that has previously been free. I can imagine that this was not an easy decision for the owners of the pharmacy to make, but I understand that these are the choices many pharmacies are facing in light of the government's announcement to implement 60-day dispensing for community pharmacies.

No part of our health ecosystem is more important than the other. It takes a community of dedicated health professionals to diagnose, treat and manage an individual's health, or sometimes many health conditions, and our community pharmacists, particularly in regions like northern Tasmania, play a key role in health management. From Elyse in Scottsdale, Jason in Youngtown, Rhys in Summerhill, Dianne in Ravenswood, Borys in Bridport to lvo and Helen in Riverside, northern Tasmanians are fortunate to have caring pharmacists who are dedicated to the health and wellbeing of their patients. But we can't expect pharmacists to do their job, to keep their doors open to the community and to continue to employ locals in their businesses on goodwill and dedication to the job alone.

I understand the hurt and frustration felt by our community pharmacists, who felt demonised by some of the comments made when the dispensing changes were first announced. Playing our healthcare sectors off against each other is a no-win situation, as is attacking pharmacy owners for their genuine concerns about how the proposed changes would impact them financially. Everybody loses if a community pharmacist can no longer afford to be in business. In order for pharmacists to do their job to the best of their ability, any government should seek to find ways to better equip pharmacists to do their job while also delivering better outcomes for patients. From what I have seen of the government's announcement so far, the 60-day dispensing change doesn't achieve either of these goals.

Let me be clear that I strongly support affordable access to medicines, particularly as an elected representative from Tasmania, a state that is, unfortunately, overrepresented in chronic disease. Additionally, living in an electorate with significant issues of accessibility to health care in some areas and challenges in affording necessary health care, I do understand the need to provide cheaper medicines and have advocated for such, particularly as the cost of living continues to impact many in my community.

However, I do have some concerns about whether Labor's proposed changes will actually deliver cheaper medicines in the long term, and there are serious questions over what impact the changes will have on pharmacists and patients in both the short and long terms, particularly at a time when we are facing a national medicine shortage and as it has become very clear that there was very little meaningful consultation undertaken with community pharmacists about the proposed change.

We now know that a letter from the Office of Impact Analysis has revealed that the impact of the Government's change to 60-day dispensing was not properly assessed to the standard of 'good practice'. Furthermore, the government failed to meet the criteria for good practice due to a lack of public consultation, particularly on the potential impacts for small businesses and pharmacies in rural and remote areas. It was also found to be lacking a detailed evaluation plan outlining how Labor is going to monitor the impact of the policy on community pharmacies once it is implemented.

Whilst I'm dumbfounded by the lack of consultation, the findings are of no surprise to me after engaging with numerous community pharmacists in my community who don't feel as though their concerns have been listened to. I'd like to read an email extract from one passionate local pharmacist in my electorate about the value of community pharmacists and the damage this proposed change would bring: 'Pharmacists didn't close during COVID. We triage patients for free. We bandage up people for free. We deliver medications for free. We hug the bereaved. We give social advice to the marginalised. We pack medication packs for under cost. We deliver subsidised diabetes products for $1. The list goes on. This will all change under this announcement. People will hoard medication. Drugs will run out of stock, worse than the present out of stock. At the end of the day there'll be young pharmacists going broke, and the profession will struggle to attract new talent, who will be too scared to take on the risk of ownership if government makes changes contrary to the agreements in place. I love my job. I love my profession. I love the customers in the community I serve,' he said.

We all want to see cheaper medicines, but the government must clearly demonstrate that our community pharmacists will not be adversely impacted by the proposal. Otherwise, we will all lose.

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