Pharmacists are axing free services and cutting jobs because of reductions to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme prices paid by the Federal Government, the industry has said.
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As many as 124 jobs are expected to be lost in the ACT and pharmacists have been warned their profits will drop by an average of $90,000 this financial year.
Some businesses are considering an end to Sunday trading, scrapping free home delivery of medications to elderly patients and ending free blood pressure checks, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has said.
Health Minister Peter Dutton's office has blamed the Gillard government for the changes.
"The government understands that pharmacists are concerned about the effect of Simplified Price Disclosure on their incomes and that other stakeholders could be impacted by the changes but, due to the current fiscal environment, the government needs to proceed with the changes,'' a spokesman said.
"These changes were announced by the previous government in August 2013 and the Coalition has been compelled to implement the measures because of the fiscal mess left by Labor. "Price disclosure is a policy of long standing that delivers savings to the taxpayer and the consumer."
The Pharmacy Guild said individual businesses had no choice but to tighten their belts because the Commonwealth had been gradually stepping down the amount it paid for PBS drugs, especially as there was another reduction planned for October.
Owner of Charnwood Capital Chemist Samantha Kourtis said she been forced to cut back on staff hours and charge for some previously free services.
"We have had a phenomenal reduction in revenue in our dispensery,'' she said.
"At the end of one month recently when we ran the report and did the data we had more customers and we banked less money. It actually makes me feel ill. My staff are working harder and I can't give them a payrise. I have had to tell them 'you have to be committed to a career in pharmacy because it's not a place to make money'. We had to let some casual staff go.''
Ms Kourtis said staff penalty rates meant it was unviable for her business to be open on public holidays, Sundays and in the evenings but she had decided to stay open during those times.
"It is important for health care, we recently extended the hours because people need us,'' she said.
