My name is Scott and I'm a cultural Roman and a community pharmacist working between Darwin and Catherine.
I love my job in advocating for all our mobs healthier.
The thing about working in a community pharmacy is the relationships.
You really get to know the people here.
I can definitely see how a 60 day prescription benefits a lot of our community and First Nations people.
A 60 day prescription means you can get 60 days of your prescription at once instead of the standard of 30.
So that's twice the medication on a single prescription.
60 day prescriptions are available for almost 300 medicines on the PBS.
They can make a big difference to the amount of time and money that people spend getting their medicine.
For example, I know aunties and uncles who live a few hours out of town.
We have to make special trips to pick up the medication, but if all their medications are on a 60 day prescription, the need for these trips is halved.
But anyone currently paying a reduced price or getting their PBS medicine for free under the Closing the Gap Co payment program, that won't change even if your doctor writes you a 60 day prescription.
Plus, the money saved by the government as a result of the 60 day prescriptions is going towards helping community pharmacies.
So if you have a stable, ongoing health condition that's managed with the medicine on the PBS, why not have a yarn with your doctor or health worker to see if a 60 day prescription is right for you?