September 2026
News
In this issue
| Standardising oral contraceptive pill pack size representation |
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| Cyber Security Alert – Be Vigilant |
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| Experience new integrated solutions at Pharmacy Connect 2026 |
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| This Month's PBS Changes |
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Standardising oral contraceptive pill pack size representation
To improve consistency and clarity across the drug database, we have implemented a standardised approach to how oral contraceptive pill (OCP) pack quantities are represented in Fred Dispense.
Why is this change being made?
Historically, OCP products have been represented using a mix of formats, including:
- Strength fields containing 28 and 28x3 for PBS products.
- Strength fields containing 28 and 28 x 3 for non-PBS products.
- Strength fields without any pack size designation (for example, simply 28).
- Product variants being used to distinguish pack sizes in some cases.
These inconsistencies have made it difficult to maintain a uniform drug database and can create ambiguity when identifying product pack sizes.
What is changing?
To provide a consistent experience for pharmacists and improve data quality across the platform, all OCP drug cards will now include an explicit pack size designation within the strength field.
The new format will be:
- 28x1 – One-month pack
- 28x3 – Three-month pack
- 28x4 – Four-month pack
This standard will be applied consistently across both PBS and non-PBS products.
Key considerations
Maintaining clarity for PBS product selection
The existing x3 designation was originally introduced to help distinguish between PBS-listed one-month and three-month packs. Under PBS, both pack sizes can have a Maximum Quantity of 3, making clear product identification important for reducing the risk of selecting the incorrect item.
The new standard retains this pack size designation, ensuring the distinction remains visible and easy to identify during dispensing.
Historical dispensing records
Dispensing history will continue to accurately reflect the product description that existed at the time of supply. As a result, users may notice variations when viewing historical and future dispensing records for the same product.
For example:
| Dispense date | Displayed strength | Quantity |
|---|---|---|
| Prior to update | 28 | 4 |
| After update | 28x4 | 1 |
This behaviour is expected and ensures historical records remain unchanged while new dispensing records benefit from the improved product description.
Benefits of the change
This update delivers several advantages:
- Consistent representation of OCP pack sizes across the database.
- Improved visibility of pack quantities during product selection.
- Reduced reliance on product variants to identify pack size.
- Easier maintenance and support of OCP drug records.
- Greater clarity for users when dispensing and reviewing products.
By standardising pack size representation, Fred Dispense will provide a more consistent and intuitive experience while preserving the safeguards required for accurate product selection, particularly for PBS-listed oral contraceptive products.
Cyber Security Alert – Be Vigilant
We're continuing to see a significant increase in cyber attacks targeting pharmacies. Recent incidents have involved compromised pharmacy, medical centre and dental clinic email accounts being used to send phishing emails to contacts. Because these emails come from someone you know, they're much harder to identify than traditional spam and frequently catch people off guard.
The most common pattern: a staff member receives an email from a trusted source, clicks a link, and malicious software gives attackers full control of the PC, allowing them to operate it as though sitting at the keyboard themselves.
It only takes one person clicking one link.
What to look out for
Be cautious of emails that:
- Create urgency or pressure to act immediately
- Contain unexpected invoices, documents, voice messages or shared files
- Come from legitimate contacts but seem unusual or out of character
- Request installation of software, updates or remote support tools
- Include QR codes asking you to sign in or verify information
Check your email account
After gaining access to an account, attackers often create rules to hide their activity. Take a few minutes to check for:
- Forwarding rules you did not create
- Rules moving emails to Deleted Items or automatically marking them as read
- Unexpected folders in your mailbox
- Sent emails or replies you don't recognise
- Password reset notifications you weren't expecting
If you find any of these, assume the account may be compromised and investigate immediately.
Why this matters
You can have excellent cyber security systems in place, but if valid credentials are compromised the attacker effectively walks in through the front door. Once inside, they can impersonate staff, search emails for sensitive information, access online portals and attempt to compromise other businesses.
Pharmacies hold highly sensitive health information and are subject to privacy legislation. If customer information is accessed or disclosed, you may have obligations to report under the Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme (NDBS) and to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC). The operational, reputational and regulatory impacts can be significant.
Actions to take
- Stop and think before clicking links or opening attachments.
- Verify unusual requests by phone, even if they appear to come from someone you know.
- Enable Multi-Factor Authentication wherever possible.
- Use strong, unique passwords.
- Review who has remote access to systems containing sensitive information.
- Ensure staff receive regular cyber awareness training.
- Consider 24x7 SOC monitoring and threat detection services. In several recent incidents, malicious remote access software was detected and isolated before further damage could occur.
Most attacks today are not sophisticated technical hacks. They start with someone clicking a link that looked legitimate. Take a moment to pause, verify and think before you click.
If you think you may have clicked a malicious link, entered your password on a suspicious website, or noticed unusual activity on your account, contact Fred IT Group or your local IT partner immediately. It's always better to investigate a false alarm than respond after the damage is done.
Experience new integrated solutions at Pharmacy Connect 2026
Fred & MedView
Wed 9 Sep - Fri 11 Sep | Stand 56-57
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Preview the end-to-end vaccination workflow in Fred Dispense Plus
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Experience Fred HQ Plus and simplify multi-store management from the cloud.
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See MedView Smart Shelf in action and streamline pricing, promotions, and shelf management.
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Discover the power of Worx and gain real-time visibility and control across your pharmacy.
Enhancing Medicines Safety and Pharmacist Scope through AI and Patient Histories
Thu 10 Sep | 12.15 - 1.00pm | Wharf Rooms 1-3, Lobby Level
Jason Bratuskins - Product Manager, eRx Script Exchange
Andrew Matthews - Partnerships and Engagement Lead Digital Health, Fred IT Group
With prescribing rights expanding and scope of practice evolving, pharmacy technology is becoming critical to safer, more accessible care. This session explores how integrated, cloud-based systems, real-time Patient Medicine History platforms, and AI are transforming community pharmacy—streamlining workflows, reducing manual tasks, and enabling pharmacists to focus on clinical decision-making and improved patient outcomes.
This Month's PBS Changes
For the full Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits, go to the PBS website at http://www.pbs.gov.au/ where you can search the schedule by drug name.
For your convenience, we've also uploaded a printable summary of this month's important PBS changes to this site.
For Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) items (CAR and non-CAR), please refer to the Schedule of Pharmaceutical Benefits as well as Services Australia to confirm whether the PBS item code for a HSD is eligible to be dispensed and claimed by your pharmacy type.