Labor MP and paediatrician Mike Freelander has urged colleagues to “hold the line” in the face of a Pharmacy Guild lobbying campaign claiming prescription changes could result in medicine shortages and children overdosing.
The Pharmacy Guild has reacted with fury to changes offering 60-day medicine prescriptions, vowing to tell patients to “ask Albo” – the prime minister, Anthony Albanese – why prices rise or services are cut.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has already lent support for the campaign, encouraging patients to ask pharmacists how “the proposed changes will impact you as a customer and them as a local small business”.
On Wednesday the health minister, Mark Butler, announced that 6 million Australians accessing 325 common medicines will be eligible for two-month prescriptions for the price of one.
The policy, to take effect in three tranches from September, offers patients savings of more than $1.6bn over the next four years by halving the cost of medicine but will cut government subsidies to pharmacists for dispensing medicine due to less frequent patient visits.
Butler has promised that every dollar saved will be reinvested into community pharmacies, but the Pharmacy Guild has warned cutting remuneration for the core service of dispensing could result in job and service cuts.
The Pharmacy Guild’s national president, Trent Twomey, wrote to members on Thursday urging them to contact their MPs to lobby against the “dangerous” policy.
The script detailing what they should say to MPs and seen by Guardian Australia, suggests they argue that “60 day dispensing will lead to hoarding, and increase the risk of overdoses, including among children and seniors”.
“Can you ask the prime minister what I’m supposed to say to my patients when I have run out of their medicine, or when their child overdoses?”
Butler called the claim “grossly irresponsible”, adding that people will only be able to get a two-month script if their treating doctor says it is appropriate, taking into account their “risk profile”.
“I have to say this is a grossly irresponsible and pretty offensive scare campaign being run by the pharmacy lobby,” Butler told 6PR.
Freelander told Guardian Australia he “strongly supported” the “long overdue changes”, urging colleagues to “hold the line” in the face of the campaign.
The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president, Dr Nicole Higgins, said the changes were “a win for patients” and also urged the government to “beware of scare campaigns”.
“A recent Westpac report found that pharmacies are reaping record profits, with the total consumer spending in pharmacies rising from $92.5m in July 2019 to more than $123m in January this year,” she said.
Anthony Tassone, a national vice-president of the Guild, said the policy “puts the viability of pharmacies across Australia at risk” and is a “kick in the guts as our thanks for staying open during the pandemic”.
“It is a cut. It is a cost-of-living affordability measure that looks good on the surface but small businesses and pharmacists are funding it because the government won’t invest in the pharmaceutical benefits scheme and lowering patient co-payments to make medicine more affordable that way.”
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Tassone said members had warned the policy will result in “reduced trading hours, reduced capacity to offer vaccination services, and increases in costs to vital services” such as ending free home delivery and charging more for packing dose administration aids.
Asked if the Pharmacy Guild could run an ad campaign against the changes, Tassone replied “we are reserving all options”.
“We will need to explain the impacts for patients on the services they have been used to receiving,” he added.
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Tassone said pharmacists expect “surges in demand” for medicine when the changes take effect, meaning “more shortages for a supply chain already under stress” with shortages of 400 medicines.
On Wednesday Butler said he values “the work of pharmacy very highly” but acknowledged he would not “pretend this is going to be easy for community pharmacy”.
Butler revealed reinvestment would include “doubling the rural maintenance allowance provided to pharmacies in rural areas” and a shift towards offering more health services other than dispensing.
“I want to see pharmacists delivering more services, more health programs, using all of their vast skills and training as health professionals for the benefit of their customers and their patients,” he told reporters in Canberra.
Butler said of the 325 medicines affected “only seven of them are experiencing supply shortages”, cautioning against “scare campaigns being put by the pharmacy lobby group”.
“I advise people to take advice around medicine supply and shortages from our medicines authorities rather than the pharmacy lobby group.
“This is not going to change the number of tablets dispensed in a given period of time. It is simply going to mean that people can get two boxes at a time, instead of having to get one box and come back twice as often.”
The Australian Medical Association president, Steve Robson, said claims of adding to medicine shortages were “specious arguments” and “ridiculous scare stories”.
“It would be different if everyone went in at 10am on Monday, but we know people go in at different times.
“Even if everyone is getting a two-month script, it should not alter the availability of medications because patients are not taking more medication.”
In a LinkedIn post Dutton said the changes had “come out of the blue” for pharmacists who were “already struggling to get enough stock for families and older Australians”.
“The changes could also cause such a significant financial impact to community pharmacies that they must reduce their hours and services,” he said.
Butler said that Dutton “given the choice between backing patients or backing profit, has yet again decided to leave patients out in the cold”.