Message from the PBS - Serious Scarcity Substitution Instrument

Where a Serious Scarcity Substitution Instrument (SSSI) has been issued by the Therapeutic Goods Administration, community pharmacists can substitute specific medicines without prior approval from the prescriber so long as the permitted circumstances within the SSSI are met. 

The approved pharmacist is required to record the information set out above, justifying supply of the substitute pharmaceutical benefit under the SSSI in writing. The approved pharmacist must inform (in writing) the PBS prescriber who wrote the prescription for the prescribed benefit that supply of the substitute benefit has been made, within 72 hours after the supply. 

A list of the substitute medicines that are eligible for dispensing as pharmaceutical benefits under these arrangements is available from the PBS website. Only consumers eligible to receive benefits under the PBS will receive subsidised substitute medicines under this change.