Mount Evelyn
Tuesday, 11 July, 2023
Warrandyte prepares to return to polls
Saying farewell to a mate and legend
Sleep out for Holy Fools
‘Girls can’ mantra on show in Montrose
PAGE 3
PAGE 6
PAGE 7
PAGE 36
A Star News Group Publication
Phone: 5957 3700 Trades and Classifieds: 1300 666 808
12496493-NG22-21
Script for cuts By Mikayla Van Loon
Alfred celebrated his 104th birthday on 5 July, alongside three other residents. Picture: MIKAYLA VAN LOON
Four residents celebrate to congratulate them on long, healthy lives. There was a spread of cake and other treats, tea and coffee, music and party poppers to wish them a all a very happy birthday. To read more, turn to page 8
12618961-ET28-23
Kirkbrae Presbyterian Homes in Kilsyth celebrated the remarkable milestone birthdays of four residents, each turning either 100 or older. Alfred, Jim, Vera and Frances were honoured with a high tea on Wednesday 5 July
The three-stage rollout of the 60 day dispensing policy is set to begin on 1 September, leaving a Lilydale pharmacy concerned over the cuts they must make to staff and services in order to sustain a healthy business. Amcal Lilydale owners Megan and Frank Kazantzis said because the Federal government intends on giving out a second prescription to patients with a chronic condition, it will come at the expense of the pharmacy. “Having to have our revenue halved is devastating,“ Megan said. Instead, Megan and Frank said they will have to charge for services they have been conducting for free, which will mostly likely impact the patient or customer more. “When that takes a massive cut, all the other things that it is offsetting we will then need to try and compensate for,“ Megan said. “So we do free delivery five days a week, Monday to Friday, to a lot of the retirement villages and at the moment we fund that through dispensing of medicines but we would have to put a charge for that. We haven’t decided exactly what the charge would be, but we wouldn’t be able do free delivery, it’s just not not sustainable.
“It’s really actually hurting the people who are the most vulnerable, which is the irony because we want it to be cheaper for everyone.“ Not against the 60 day dispensing policy, Megan and Frank said there could have been other solutions to ensuring cheaper medications in a sustainable way for all pharmacies to continue providing other important services like vaccinations and triage for patients with simple medical requests. “It’s actually got so many unintended consequences that it just makes it bad policy, not the 60 day dispensing is bad policy, but the policy as presented,“ Frank said. A spokesperson for Federal health minister Mark Butler said this policy will go towards supporting people with ongoing health conditions that require frequent dispensing of medications. “This will halve the cost of medicines for millions of Australians, including pensioners, who are living with a chronic condition,“ the spokesperson said. “This was first recommended in 2018 from the clinical experts at PBAC. It was never implemented by the former government, costing Australians billions in lost savings.“ Full story on page 5
| 465 MAROONDAH HWY, LILYDALE 3140 | WWW.AGPOWER.COM.AU |
Physiotherapy treatment - Remedial Massage - Clinical Pilates - Reformer Pilates 12443008-SG10-20
Mt Evelyn - www.formandpractice.com.au - 9736 2565
12592636-JW10-23
(03) 9739 5006