Delivery Services

Getting to the pharmacy is not always easy, whether because of illness, mobility, work, distance, or just a week where everything is too much. Many pharmacies deliver, bringing your dispensed medicines to your door so collecting them is one less thing to manage.

What is a pharmacy delivery service?

It is the pharmacy delivering your prescribed and pharmacy-supplied medicines to your home or another agreed address. You provide a valid prescription (often an electronic prescription), the pharmacist dispenses and checks it as usual, and the medicine is delivered rather than collected. Some pharmacies offer same-day local delivery; others deliver on set days or by post for further distances.

Who is it for?

Delivery helps people who are unwell, housebound, or recovering, those with mobility or transport limits, busy carers and families, people isolating, and anyone who finds regular trips to the pharmacy hard to fit in. Paired with Dose Administration Aids and repeat management, it can take the chore of medicines almost entirely off your plate.

How it works

Ask your pharmacy whether they deliver to your area, and how to set it up. You provide your prescription or eScript token, confirm your address and any access details, and the pharmacy dispenses and delivers. The pharmacist’s clinical checks and counselling still happen, often by phone, so you understand how to take a new medicine. Check the delivery days, any fee, and how they handle medicines that need refrigeration.

Things to know

Some medicines cannot simply be left at the door, including certain controlled drugs and items needing cold-chain handling, so the pharmacy may need someone to receive them or may handle them differently. If a medicine is urgent, tell the pharmacy and have a backup plan in case delivery is delayed. Keep your own medicines list, and contact the pharmacy if a delivery is wrong or missing rather than guessing.

How it’s regulated in Australia

Delivery is part of normal pharmacy practice and operates within state and territory medicines law and the professional standards of the Pharmacy Board of Australia. The dispensing pharmacist remains responsible for checking the prescription and for safe handling, including correct storage in transit. How controlled and cold-chain medicines are delivered is governed by those rules.

Official sources

• Healthdirect: managing your medicines
• Pharmacy Board of Australia: codes and guidelines

Ask your pharmacy about delivery days, fees, and cold-chain handling. Use the button below to find a pharmacy offering delivery near you.