The
Government
Dispensary

COMMENT:
Will this need to be in two separate locations?
Surely it would be more convenient for patients to be able to visit a "one stop" location?
The reason for the success of regional shopping centres and "superstores" is the convenience factor...everything is in the one location.
Medical centres have enjoyed the same experience, so it would seem logical to have the boutique pharmacy service "grafted" on the government dispensing operation.
And if this happened, the community pharmacists who combined to tender for the PBS contract would have to abandon their "cottage industry" type pharmacies to provide the manpower for the new pharmacy model.
This points to a corporate model, located in or near a medical centre, so that an efficient amalgamation of interests can result.

Boutique
Style
Pharmacies

COMMENT:
This style of pharmacy could survive in a niche market at varying levels of population, depending on the demand for specialist services such as consultant pharmacy.
Initially, until the private market expands for consultancy, there may be insufficient work for survival. This might mean having to take on a variety of other consultants, such as naturopaths, nurses for wound dressings and babycare etc
Future demand may be generated by general practitioners, but this is not hopeful at the moment.
Specialist retailing in surgical and mobility appliances, nutritional supplements etc are other avenues to sustain this type of pharmacy.
Depending on the mix and balance of goods supplied and services offered, population support and level of competition, it may be necessary to offer some proportion of PBS dispensing.
As the pharmacy expanded in scale, PBS activities could be hived off to a separate location (with or without other pharmacy amalgamations), or simply relocate into a medical centre as a large scale pharmacy.