Pharmac softens on drug proposal

By MARTIN JOHNSTON

Doctors may retain control over whether they prescribe drugs in one-month or three-month batches.

Pharmac, the Government agency that sets drug subsidies, proposed in March that patients could pick up three months' supply of many types of medicines in one visit to a pharmacy.

But others on a "close control" list, which includes anti-psychotic and anti-depressant medication, could continue to be prescribed for shorter periods.

One drug proposed for the three-month list is paracetamol with dextropropoxyphene, often used by elderly people with arthritic pain.

Green MP Sue Kedgley said yesterday that Pharmac documents showed that as this drug was not proposed to be on the close control list, patients would lose the associated Government subsidies if their doctor wanted to prescribe it for less than three months to protect the patient's safety.

Pharmac chief executive Wayne McNee said last night that subsidies would be lost only if the doctor wrote a prescription, for instance, for multiple one-month lots.

Single dispensings for supplies of less than three months would still be subsidised, he said.

But in submissions on the proposed changes, many people had expressed concerns about these issues around drugs including paracetamol with dextropropoxyphene.

Pharmac says the proposal, which would be implemented this year if adopted by its board, would give the Government about $35 million a year to invest in other health services.

But the Pharmacy Guild is fighting the proposal.

It says it would wipe out many pharmacies, undermine safety because of the large volume of drugs that would be stored in homes, make it harder to ensure patients take their medicine, and lead to drug wastage.