If you’re someone with a chronic illness, or if you have a large family, the cost of healthcare, including over the counter and prescription medicines, can really add up over time.

Your community pharmacist isn’t just someone who fills your scripts. They can deliver important health checks and services, offer guidance and refer on where necessary, and even help to save you money. Here’s now:

Providing convenient healthcare advice without needing an appointment and often without a fee.

Your community pharmacist is the most accessible healthcare professional. They are available for advice, without an appointment, at any point that the pharmacy is open — either in-store or over the phone.

Our pharmacists are trained in a range of fields and can assess and treat many different health conditions. For example, Capital Chemist pharmacies offer services including baby clinics, a sleep apnoea service, wound management, mental health first aid and anaemia screening — just to name a few!

Outside of the services that your Capital Chemist pharmacist an offer, they are available to lend an ear and provide professional healthcare advice whenever you need it.

Sometimes it’s not only a matter of money but of time. One of the services that your Capital Chemist pharmacist can offer is a Workplace Leave Certificate. If you have woken up with a self-limiting condition that would usually fall into your pharmacist’s normal scope of practice (like a cold, stomach upset, migraine, or back pain), your pharmacist may be able to issue a certificate for up to two days. A small fee applies, but you may find a trip to the pharmacy is more convenient than a visit to the GP and with less waiting time.

Through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) Safety Net

The PBS Safety Net runs on a calendar year and helps to protect Australian families from high medication costs. If you are taking lots of PBS medicines, you could qualify.

If you go to one pharmacy for all of your medicines, then your pharmacist can automatically keep track of your families PBS medicines and let you know when you reach the limit — as long as they know all of the members of your families (different family names can make it tricky otherwise).

If you’re a concession patient, once you reach the limit, most scripts become free. If you’re a general patient, most scripts go down to $6.60 in 2020.

By offering a less expensive brand

Sometimes, your doctor may prescribe a particular brand of medicine. There may be a generic version available, which offers the same active ingredients. According to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, generic brands also have to be ‘bioequivalent’, meaning the same dose contains the same active ingredient which is absorbed by your body over the same period of time.

The alternative brand will offer exactly the same benefits as the existing brand and work in the same way, but switching to a generic brand can save you a significant amount of money over time.

If you have any concerns or questions about a generic, less expensive brand, your Capital Chemist pharmacist is more than happy to talk about it with you.

By making sure you’re taking the right medicines correctly

Your Capital Chemist pharmacist can also make sure that you’re taking only the right medicines you need at the right dose.

There are a number of ways that this can happen: one is through a simple conversation where they can answer your questions and explain or demonstrate how to correctly take your medicines (for example, how to use an asthma inhaler properly).

Another way is a Home Medicines Review. This is a comprehensive clinical review of your medicines by a specially accredited pharmacist. Once you have a referral from your GP, the pharmacist will come to your home and conduct the review. This service happens in cooperation with relevant health professionals, and, where appropriate, your carer.

Through our Loyalty Matters program

Whether it’s items for your first aid kit, vitamins, supplements, skincare and toiletries, we think that you deserve to be rewarded for looking after yourself and investing in your health.

That’s why we invented our Loyalty Matters programme, to thank you for your loyalty and to help save you money.

Here’s how it works: for every $1 spent (except on prescription medicines) you’ll receive 1 Loyalty Point. When you earn 100 points, you’ll be rewarded with a $5 loyalty voucher to spend as you choose. You’ll also have the chance to win fantastic prizes exclusive to Loyalty Matters members and look forward to exclusive member-only offers in-store. And seniors earn double points.

Membership is free, and you can start earning points immediately. Find out more and sign up at https://capitalchemist.com.au/pg.aspx?title=loyalty-matters.