Pharmacies Australia-wide will be charged with helping patients who take chronic pain medication consistently for three months or more, under the Pain MedsCheck trial that will run up until June 2020 as part of the remaining Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement.

The new $20 million program to be funded under the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement will be jointly managed by The Pharmacy Guild of Australia (PGA) and Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) who will evaluate and review a patient’s medications and pain management program face-to-face, and develop a written action plan, to support their clinical needs.

Pharmacy Guild National President, George Tambassis, welcomed the Pain MedsCheck trial, citing it will significantly boost the ability of community pharmacies to contribute to the management of chronic pain at a time when low-dose, codeine-containing analgesics are about to become prescription only (February 1, 2018).