Southcity Pharmacy cuts back trading hours after government's 60-day dispensing policy

According to an independent report commissioned by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the decision will result in a further 665 NSW pharmacies being forced to close and the loss of 20,000 pharmacy jobs.

The new policy enables many patients living with a chronic condition to buy two months' worth of common PBS-listed medicines for the price of a single prescription, rather than the current one month's 30-day supply.

It will also cut down the amount of foot traffic flowing into pharmacies, meaning while it comes as good news to patients, it is a sting to pharmacies like Wagga's Southcity Pharmacy, which has cut back its trading hours.

Member for Wagga Joe McGirr said feedback from the general community has been positive following the announcement of the new policy.

However, that is not a sentiment shared by Southcity Pharmacy owner Luke van der Rijt, who said the new policy was the deciding factor in making the hard decision to reduce trading hours.

"This has been a difficult decision to make and has not come lightly, however, we are confident that these changes to trading hours will compress our current staff so we can provide even better service to patients," Mr Van der Rijt said.

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"Finding staff to work after hours has been particularly challenging.

"We have made multiple attempts in the last 12-14 months and these have been unsuccessful, with most people choosing to understandably be at home with family after hours.

"The government's upcoming 60-day dispensing has also factored into our decision. In the upcoming policies current state pharmacies will be losing money, so we need to find areas to be more efficient.

"As always, we continue to support more affordable medications for patients, but believe this should be funded by the government and not by pharmacies."

Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Trent Twomey said the report, conducted by economist Henry Ergas AO, the Tulipwood Advisory and Regional Insights Data Lab at Griffith University, was a "wake-up call".

"This independent report confirms the policy is catastrophic in its current form, leading to over 20,000 job losses, more than 650 pharmacies shutting, weekend opening hours drastically scaled back and millions of free services cut," he said.

The guild is calling for the policy's start date, September 1, to be delayed to allow for further consultation.

Mr Van der Rijt's other pharmacy, Uranquinty Pharmacy, will continue trading as usual at this stage, while Southcity Pharmacy will now trade between 8am and 7pm, Monday to Friday, and 9am to 5pm Saturday and Sunday.

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