Pharmacy emergency service
The pharmacy emergency service regulates the alternating availability of pharmacies outside of regular opening hours. This ensures that the population is supplied with pharmaceuticals by the pharmacies even at these times , without all pharmacies having to be kept open around the clock.
Situation in the German-speaking area
Germany
The legal basis for keeping pharmacies open are the Pharmacies Act , the Shop Closing Act and the Pharmacy Operating Regulations . In certain municipalities or areas, some of the pharmacies must be closed on a rotating basis at fixed times - for example during general shop closing times and Saturday afternoons. During these times, they are released from service. In areas with few pharmacies, there are pharmacies that are always on call (e.g. on the North Sea islands). The duty of service regulation is regulated by the pharmacists responsible in the respective federal states.
During the closing times, every pharmacy must put a notice on the nearest pharmacy on duty. The list of the pharmacies on duty is also known as the emergency service calendar . These are published in the daily newspapers as well as on the websites of the cities or districts and special search services.
During the emergency service, pharmacies may only dispense medicinal, nursing, disinfecting , baby care and baby food and hygienic items. Since the dispensing of pharmaceuticals in the emergency service is a pharmaceutical activity, a pharmacist must always be present; in exceptional cases, this task can be performed by a pharmacist's assistant or a pharmaceutical engineer. For pharmacies in rural areas, the emergency service is usually inadequate due to the low level of use and is usually guaranteed by the pharmacy manager himself every 5 to 10 days.
According to the Drug Price Ordinance , pharmacies can use the emergency service between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., all day on Sundays and public holidays, and on December 24th until 6 a.m. and after 2 p.m. (if December 24th falls on a working day) Charge the amount of 2.50 euros ("emergency service fee", "emergency service surcharge", "night tax"). The emergency service fee is only charged once per use, regardless of the number of prescriptions presented or the drugs purchased. The health insurance companies will pay the emergency service fee if the doctor has noted the need for urgency on the prescription ( "noctu" ) and the prescription is immediately redeemed at the pharmacy.
A pharmacy that is not obliged to provide emergency service may not charge an emergency service fee, even if its regular opening times extend beyond the normal shop opening hours.
During the emergency service, the pharmacist can only fall back on the existing warehouse and may therefore have to improvise under certain circumstances, i.e. replace a missing finished drug with a recipe . In order to be able to ensure supply in as many cases as possible, the pharmacist has extended exchange rights in the emergency service, for example he may deviate from the aut idem regulation.
In some places the pharmacy's normal sales room is open during the emergency service. For security reasons, other pharmacies serve customers, especially at night, through an emergency service window to which the pharmacy staff is called by a bell.
Austria
The situation is similar to that in Germany. Of the 1,362 pharmacies, around 265 are on duty outside of opening hours (data from December 2017). The emergency service fee is charged per use of the service (not per pack) and is EUR 3.80 per use at night (8 p.m. to 8 a.m.) and EUR 1.30 on Sundays and public holidays during the day. There is no emergency service fee on Saturday afternoons (on weekdays). A pharmacist must be present during the emergency service and cannot be represented by other pharmaceutical staff.
The list of currently open emergency pharmacies can be found in the ORF teletext and on the Internet on the homepage of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists and as competing offers from Compass Verlag and BAWS Websolutions. Telephone information outside of the regular opening times can be obtained at 1455.
Situation in other countries
United States
In the United States are non-prescription drugs in supermarkets , drugstores , convenience stores and gas stations available that are usually open around the clock. Patients only need to go to a pharmacy for prescription drugs; In the USA these are usually open daily and into the evening.
Web links to search for pharmacy emergency services
In Germany
- Official emergency information from the German pharmacists' association ( ABDA )
- Emergency service information in the German phone book
In Austria
- Official body: Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists - Aposuche
- As a smartphone app for iPhone and Android: - Pharmacy app
In Switzerland
Individual evidence
- ↑ § 1 Paragraph 1
- ↑ a b § 4 Shop Closing Act (LadSchlG)
- ↑ Section 23, Paragraph 1 of the Pharmacy Operating Regulations (ApBetrO)
- ↑ § 23 paragraph 5 ApBetrO
- ↑ § 3 paragraph 5 ApBetrO
- ↑ § 2 Paragraph 6 ApBetrO
- ↑ § 6 Drug Price Ordinance (AMPreisV)
- ↑ Night duty fee when using the pharmacy outside of the established operating hours , Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, accessed on November 15, 2018
- ^ Pharmacy search , Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, accessed on November 17, 2018
- ↑ apo24.at
- ↑ Nachtapotheke.wien
