The emergency rule allowing pharmacists to dispense prescription medicines without a script is a potential risk to patient safety, the RACGP says.

Pharmacists were granted permission to give patients up to one month’s supply of their usual PBS medicine during the summer’s bushfires, if GPs were unavailable to write a repeat.

Now, pharmacy groups have begun lobbying for the rule to be made permanent, arguing it would ensure patients can access measures in any future emergency.

Last week, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia claimed it had “saved” Medicare 75,000 consultations over April and May – equivalent to the number of prescriptions dispensed by pharmacists under the measure.