Tasmanian's top pharmacists say changes to the PBS are 'missed opportunity'

In the handing down of Tuesday's budget, the government announced an additional $2.4 billion would be spent over the next four years for new medicines added to the PBS.

Treatments for patients with cancer, cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy and lung diseases were all included as part of the allocation, with the federal government estimating about 4000 patients would benefit from the changes.

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Additionally, $170.6 million would be spent on new and amended listings to the scheme. While welcoming the changes to the PBS, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmanian president Helen O'Byrne said the inclusions amounted to a drop in the ocean.

"The federal government has failed to adequately address the increasing costs of PBS medicines in this budget, and it's a missed opportunity to help millions of Australians better access critical medicines and relieve hip pocket pressures for working families," she said

"We were hoping to have a recognition that the cost of PBS medicines, that rose again on January 1, is not affordable for many middle-income earning Australians.

"The consequence of that is that they're foregoing critical medicines that can increase their presentation to emergency departments and reduce their quality of life."

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Other changes include $525.3 million to reduce out of pocket costs by lowering the PBS safety net eligibility thresholds for concession and non-concession holders.

Under the change, the safety net would be reduced, meaning about 2.4 million people would qualify for free or discounted prescription medicines sooner than before.

For general patients, the threshold has been reduced from $1542.10 to $1457.10, and for concession card holders from $326.40 to $244.80.

Like the new inclusions to the PBS, Ms O'Byrne said changes to the safety net did not go far enough.

"It is a welcome relief for those patients who have to spend money on critical medicines, but they have minimally reduced the safety net requirement for general patients," she said.

"I think 19 million Australians don't have access to a concession or pension card, and we don't feel that it goes far enough to address the issues of medicine affordability."

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Another significant announcement in the budget was the $340 million allocated to embed pharmacy services in residential aged care facilities.

Aged and Community Services Australia chief executive Paul Sadler said the pharmacy service appeared to be the biggest new investment in residential age care homes.

Ms O'Byrne said the announcement would holistically provide better health outcomes for patients.

"It advantages patients by improving health outcomes for them around medicine safety and from a community pharmacy point of view, those pharmacies that do supply aged care facilities can also spend time in those facilities to improve outcomes."

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