Pharmacy continued dispensing rule made permanent
Introduced as a temporary measure two years ago, they allow a month's supply of common medicines to be dispensed without a script.
The Federal Government is permanently going to allow pharmacists to dispense an extra month’s supply of common medicines without a script —over the protests of the RACGP.
Introduced in response to the 2019-20 bushfires and then extended because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the continued dispensing rules allow pharmacists to dispense extra medicines once per patient every 12 months.
But earlier this year, the PBAC suggested permanently entrenching the powers for antihypertensives, diuretics, oral hypoglycaemics, antivirals for HIV and antivirals for hepatitis C.
This raised the ire of the RACGP, which said the advent of MBS-funded telehealth had made GP appointments easier than ever for patients.
