Emily Klopper: The costs of taking multiple medicines
Listen to patients and health professionals speak about their experience with taking multiple medicines.
Emily Klopper
Main occupation: Pharmacist (Managing Partner)
Years in clinical practice: 10
Qualifications: BPharm MPS, Grad Dip ExSci, MEd
Emily Klopper, pharmacist, describes some of the things she can do in her pharmacy to help customers who are having problems affording their medicines.
Quite often, obviously, if they're Repat, we'd suggest they go and have a chat to DVA [Department of Veterans’ Affairs] to see what they are, in fact, eligible for. DVA is good, I guess, in terms of it also covers a few things that aren't just scripts. So, they can get wound dressings and all that type of thing, which is a huge assistance if they've got a few things going on, that they can get a few things covered.
Um ... in terms of Centrelink and that type of thing, it's obviously case by case through that avenue. For some people, and if we know that they're capable of paying, we do sometimes set up a temporary account, if we know the patient very well and it is a matter of waiting ’til the next payment day, we can work something out.
In terms of the full cost of medicines, that's a really difficult thing, because for us to outlay and, say, we can't discount something that's $35 when the cost to us is $70 odd, it's a really difficult situation. And quite often, just off the top of my head, thinking of a couple of patients, they would turn to their parents or partners to help them with that.
The Living with multiple medicines project was developed in
collaboration with Healthtalk Australia.