Monash Rural Health study reveals “pharmacy deserts” across rural and metro Australia
A Monash Rural Health-led investigation into community pharmacy density across Australia has identified “pharmacy deserts” in both remote and outer-metropolitan areas, including remote Northern Territory communities and outer-city Melbourne, as well as other areas with relatively few community pharmacies elsewhere in Australia.
The study, published in the Australian Journal of Rural Health by Dr Michael Leach and Emily Griffin, mapped the density of Australia’s 6,032 community pharmacies per unit population in 2024. Nationally, the number of community pharmacies per 10,000 population was found to be 2.22: below the global average of 2.75 and in need of improvement. Dr Leach and Ms Griffin also calculated and mapped community pharmacy density across small geographic areas called Statistical Area Level 3 areas. They identified particular areas of Australia with very low community pharmacy density (less than 1.73 community pharmacies per 10,000 population), such as Daly-Tiwi-West Arnhem in the Northern Territory, Manningham East in outer-city Melbourne, and the rural town of Baw Baw in Victoria’s Gippsland region. Consistent with the greater medical needs among older people, density of community pharmacies was significantly higher in those areas with higher percentages of 65-84-year-old and 85+-year-old residents.
Community pharmacy density was also significantly higher overall in remote, rural and regional areas combined than metropolitan areas; however, community pharmacy density within metropolitan areas tended to be low in outer-city areas and high in inner-city areas. In Victoria, for example, metropolitan areas with very low community pharmacy density tended to be located on the outskirts of Melbourne: three to the west of inner Melbourne (Wyndham, Melton-Bacchus Marsh, and Surf Coast-Bellarine Peninsula), two to the north of inner Melbourne (Tullamarine-Broadmeadows and Whittlesea-Wallan), and five to the east of inner Melbourne (Mannington-West, Mannington-East, Yarra Ranges, Casey-North, Casey-South, and Cardinia).
According to Dr Leach, “Community pharmacies provide essential services to the general public. These services include dispensing and supplying medications, providing advice on common ailments, providing education on medication use and safety, and various other services, such as administering vaccinations. While recent evidence suggests that there are fewer pharmacists per community pharmacy in remote, rural and regional Australia than metropolitan Australia, this new study found that there are significantly more community pharmacies per 10,000 population in remote, rural and regional Australia than metropolitan Australia. The relatively high community pharmacy density beyond major cities is partly attributable to low outer-city community pharmacy density, and may reflect the fact that, due to a relative lack of other health services, remote, rural and regional communities are more reliant on community pharmacies.”
“Community pharmacies are often a first point of contact for patients in more remote areas of Australia,” Ms Griffin added. “Additionally, community pharmacists often act as intermediaries between patients and other healthcare professionals, particularly in remote, rural and regional areas. Even very small communities require access to community pharmacies. So, overall, there are more community pharmacies per 10,000 residents outside major cities. This does not mean that Australia’s remote, rural and regional areas are not facing significant pharmacy workforce issues, such as a relative lack of community pharmacists and unfilled vacancies at community pharmacies. Indeed, when considered alongside recently published evidence, the findings of this new study suggest that community pharmacies have already been established in sufficient numbers in many remote, rural and regional areas of Australia but that these non-metropolitan pharmacies are, nevertheless, understaffed. The community pharmacy premises are already largely there ready for more community pharmacists to start working outside major cities.”
Despite their study’s finding of significantly higher community pharmacy density in remote, rural and regional areas combined across Australia, Leach and Griffin still found that there are some remote/rural/regional areas with very low community pharmacy densities. The 14 remote/rural/regional areas with very low numbers of community pharmacies per 10,000 population are spread across the Northern Territory (Alice Springs, Barkly, Daly-Tiwi-West Arnhem, and East Arnhem), New South Wales (Blue Mountains-South, Illawarra Catchment Reserve, and Jervis Bay), Queensland (Cairns-North and Far North), Tasmania (Brighton and Central Highlands), Victoria (Baw Baw and Creswick-Daylesford-Ballan), and the Australian Capital Territory (Uriarra-Namadgi). Most notably, the Northern Territory’s 18,374-strong community of Daly-Tiwi-West Arnhem has no community pharmacies at all.
Unsurprisingly, areas with very high community pharmacy densities (greater than 2.88 community pharmacies per 10,000 population) included the inner metropolitan areas of New South Wales (Sydney Inner City), Queensland (Brisbane Inner), Victoria (Melbourne City), South Australia (Adelaide City) and Western Australia (Perth City), as well as the regional centre of Hobart Inner in Tasmania. Community pharmacy density was not as high in the Northern Territory’s regional centre, Darwin Inner: 2.75 and community pharmacies per 10,000 population.
Dr Leach says “Areas of Australia with very few or no community pharmacies per 10,000 population—such as Manningham East, Baw Baw and Daly-Tiwi-West Arnhem—should be prioritised in policies, legislation and decisions regarding the establishment of community pharmacies in Australia. Relevant documents include Australia’s Pharmacy Location Rules and community pharmacy ownership legislation for individual jurisdictions, such as Victoria’s Pharmacy Regulation Act and the Northern Territory’s Pharmacy Ownership Standard.
Additionally, as this study found there are already very high numbers of community pharmacies per 10,000 population in many non-metropolitan areas of Australia, there is a need for further initiatives aimed at attracting and retaining more pharmacists to work in these existing remote, rural and regional community pharmacies. Such actions could one day lead to the more equitable distribution of community pharmacies and community pharmacists across Australia.
Read full paper in the Australian Journal of Rural Health: Community Pharmacy Density Across Remote, Rural, Regional and Metropolitan Areas of Australia: An Ecological Study. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/ajr.70169