Instalment dispensing cut-back in NZ
Pharmacists in New Zealand say that patient services are threatened by cost-saving changes which mean that prescriptions that would have been dispensed in monthly instalments have to be dispensed all at once. Pharmacists will lose dispensing fees as a result and fear that businesses may close.
Wayne McNee, chief executive of PHARMAC, New Zealand’s pharmaceutical
management agency, says that the change will increase the proportion
of prescriptions that are dispensed all at once from 35 per cent to 71
per cent.
“The Pharmacy Guild [New Zealand’s equivalent of the National
Pharmaceutical Association] has been saying for some time that pharmacists
have a heavy
workload,” he said. “Less time spent dispensing will free
pharmacists’ time so that they can devote more time to individual
patients and develop their role in providing clinical pharmacy advice.”
However the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand warned: “This
proposal means people will no longer have their pharmacist helping them
to manage their medication each month.” It added: “Some of
our members are already struggling to survive — this will inevitably
close some pharmacies.”
New Zealand pharmacist Don Anderson believes that Mr McNee, who is a
member of the PSNZ, could be in breach of the Society’s code of
ethics. The code requires pharmacists to place the interests of patients
above commercial considerations. According to Pharmacy Today, Mr Anderson
plans to make a formal complaint about Mr McNee to the society. |
