Harden Pharmacist Adam Walsh said that the new system is adding more cost to patients who must revisit doctors more often for scripts.
In the past few weeks we have heard how some of our federal politicians (both Labor and LNP), are being accused of rorting their travel entitlements to the tune of many thousands of tax payer dollars.
Rightly or wrongly, it is particularly gawling to many patients that the Therapeutic Goods Administration will effectively increase the cost of codeine-based drugs by restricting their provision to prescription-only, effective from February 2018.
Admittedly this is due to the abuse of codeine-based medications by a minority of users, but now everybody will pay the penalty. Such treatments are Codral (cold and flu), Mersyndol (period pain) and painkiller Nurofen Plus. Prescriptions are going to make these treatments more expensive compared to over-the-counter prices.
There are also changes for non-insulin dependent diabetics. Type 2 diabetics who are not using insulin will, under the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS), only be able to continue to access subsidised test strips if their doctor, nurse practitioner or credentialed diabetes educator considers that there is a clinical need for them to continue to monitor their blood glucose levels. This will require your health professional’s signature on a Blood Glucose Test Strip Six Month Approval Form.
These new rules follow the independent advice of the expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC). The PBAC recommended restrictions to access to blood glucose test strips based on research that found there is limited evidence that self-monitoring of blood glucose improves blood glucose control, quality of life or long-term complications in people with type 2 diabetes who are not using insulin. The change to the provision of testing strips does not affect individuals who use insulin, women with gestational diabetes and those registered through the NDSS as having ‘other diabetes
