27/02/2024
There are few worse feelings than waking up in the middle of the night with a sick child or loved one, especially when it’s a long drive to the nearest hospital. Thankfully, that situation just became a lot easier for metropolitan Adelaide residents with the launch of South Australia’s first 24/7 pharmacy on February 4 in Norwood.
Now instead of dealing with crowded emergency rooms, worried locals can visit Norwood National Pharmacies at 156 The Parade at any hour of the day or night. The switch to round-the-clock operations means there will be a pharmacist present 24 hours a day to provide health advice and dispense medication, and security guards will also be onsite overnight.
The launch of 24-hour trading is part of a 2.5 million-dollar-a-year government initiative aimed at increasing community access to health care and easing the burden on hospital emergency departments. “Our professional team of pharmacists are now available 24/7 to provide health advice and dispense time-critical medications,” said National Pharmacies CEO Vito Borrello. That includes (but is not limited to) providing “pain relief for sick children and antivirals for COVID and shingles, allowing for rapid treatment and recovery of illnesses that require prompt management.”
In the first week of operation, almost 400 customers visited the pharmacy overnight, accessing hundreds of prescriptions for antibiotics, asthma inhalers, infant colic treatments and pain relief medication. The second week of operation saw an increase in these numbers, with many more customers taking advantage of the opening hours by calling the pharmacists for advice on how to administer medication.
Borrello hailed the strong community response, saying he was delighted that “our expert pharmacists have been able to assist worried parents, carers, shift-workers and others in the community who previously would have had to seek help elsewhere.”
The new opening hours also coincide with improved access to antibiotic treatments for UTIs affecting women aged 18-65 from March. And from May onwards, eligible patients will be able to get resupplies of the oral contraceptive pill from the pharmacy without needing a GP appointment.
