Penny Shakespeare
Health system needs change: Shakespeare
Pharmacists urged to prepare for change, as health system adapts to patients’ evolving needs Australia’s healthcare workforce is looking towards a period of “significant change”, Penny Shakespeare the deputy secretary …
Union seeks to ease 60-day ‘alarmism’
Professional Pharmacists Australia is accusing the Guild of creating unnecessary panic over the introduction of 60-day dispensing The union has dubbed warnings of job losses and pharmacy closures in a …
Week in Review
Once again 60-day dispensing dominated the headlines over the last seven days following the latest round of Senate Estimates Hearings Department of Health officials have revealed that a casting call …
No default to 60-day scripts
Prescribing software provides doctors with options to prescribe eligible medications on a 30- or 60-day script, bureaucrats say Concerns that GPs’ prescribing software platforms automatically prompt doctors to issue 60-day …
Benefits outweigh 60-day wastage fears
Department of Health officials play down pharmacists’ concerns that 60-day dispensing will fuel an increase in medicine wastage Medicines wastage as a result of the government’s decision to increase maximum …
AHPRA an option for concerns about 60-day scripts
Pharmacists urged to discuss queries about the safety and suitability of 60-day prescriptions with the prescriber, before contacting AHPRA Pharmacists with concerns about a prescriber’s clinical practice regarding 60-day prescriptions …
Happy to wear NIP overspend: Shakespeare
Spending more than the $114.1 million allocated to pharmacy-delivered National Immunisation Program (NIP) vaccines over the next four years would be a win for the Commonwealth Speaking during a webinar …
Double dispensing won’t increase demand
The government is working with wholesalers to ensure medicines supply ahead of 60-day dispensing rollout Increases in maximum dispensing quantities are not expected to fuel medicines shortages a Department of …
Remember your obligations: Shakespeare
Pharmacists are being urged to talk to a patient’s prescriber if they have clinical concerns regarding their suitability for 60-day prescriptions Community pharmacists are being reminded of their obligations under …
No reduction in ODT services
Bureaucrats refute suggestions pharmacies are dropping out of the national opioid dependence treatment (ODT) program Community pharmacies are looking to join the national methadone Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) despite suggestions …
Dispensing fees not for cross-subsidising services: Shakespeare
Pharmacies are making commercial decisions to waive medication packing fees to secure exclusive supply deals, a Department of Health official claims Community pharmacies are under no obligation to enter deals …
60-day dispensing never off the table: Shakespeare
Department of Health and Aged Care officials reject claims that implementing double dispensing mid-way through the 7CPA is unfair Suggestions that the government’s decision to roll out 60-day dispensing while …