The pharmacy chain is the biggest in Australia.
The number one-ranked drug in Australia for prescription drugs is the generic version of a brand-name drug, and it’s also the top-selling brand in the state of New South Wales.
It has more than 50 pharmacies across Australia, and more than 70 per cent of those are in NSW.
It also has a brand new pharmacy in Newcastle and an expanded store in the suburbs of Melbourne.
But as the company prepares for the holidays, and the NSW Government cuts its budget, some of its Sydney pharmacies are struggling.
Safeway pharmacy manager Andrew Cramer said the brand-new pharmacy was a “truly exciting opportunity”.
“We’ve had a few people who are interested in our pharmacy in the past year or so but we haven’t been able to get a license,” Mr Cramer told ABC Radio NSW.
“There’s a few other pharmacies that we are interested to partner with but they are just not in our budget.”
We have a brand, we have a new pharmacy, we’re opening an additional pharmacy, so we’re really excited about that.
“That’s where it’s been for the last few years, we’ve been expanding our pharmacy and expanding our services, so that’s where the new pharmacy will be.”
Sydney pharmacy director Andrew Crampton said Safeway was keen to expand its pharmacy network.
“The company has a number of pharmacies in Sydney that are open and we are looking forward to expanding those further and opening a new store there,” he said.
“We’re also looking at expanding the pharmacy network in Sydney as well, so there are a number stores in Sydney with a lot of people using the pharmacy.”
A few NSW Premier’s NSW Premier has backed the move to allow drugstore chains to have the licence to operate in NSW, saying it was “good for business”.
“I support the decision to allow a licensed pharmacy to operate within a city centre,” Premier Mike Baird said in a statement.
“This is good for business and good for our economy, which depends on it.”
This is a welcome step forward for NSW pharmacies and good news for the state’s consumers, who can now access more affordable, effective and high-quality medicines.
“However, many shoppers in Sydney are unhappy.
A NSW Consumer Action Group (SACG) study found 80 per cent believed that Safeway pharmacies should not be allowed to open, and 79 per cent said Safeways brand-names were not generic enough.
She said Safestoppers would have to “look at the evidence” before allowing a Safeway Pharmacy licence. “
A good thing is that it’s not a bad thing to have pharmacies that have a genuine brand name on them,” Dr Rebecca Williams from SACG said.
She said Safestoppers would have to “look at the evidence” before allowing a Safeway Pharmacy licence.
It’s a question many consumers are asking.
Do you know more about the NSW Pharmacy crisis?
“We think that we have got the right to be able to open and operate as we see fit within the city,” Ms Williams said.
“But if we want to open a Safeways pharmacy then we’ll have to go through a review process.”
Topics:health,community-and-society,health-policy,health,healthcare-facilities,pharmacy-prescription,nsw,sydney-2000,nelson-3050,macquarie-3151,vic,perth-6000,narre Warrens-3048,wa,metropolitan-north-40,syDARGO-7217Contact: Andrew Cramsbury,Safestoppers,1455-1344,[email protected],[email protected]: Lisa McCrea,NICC,1458-2217,[email protected]