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For patients

For patients

Pharmacotherapy at Priceline Pharmacy Sunshine Marketplace: starting, transferring, dosing visits, takeaways, long-acting injectable options where prescribed, naloxone, cost, support and privacy.

Starting treatment

Pharmacotherapy is an opioid dependence treatment pathway arranged with an authorised prescriber. We support supervised dosing and related pharmacy care as trained pharmacists.

You need a prescription from a pharmacotherapy prescriber, usually a trained GP or nurse practitioner. If you do not have one, we can point you to local prescribers and services. We coordinate with your prescriber before your first dose.

What to bring: Medicare card, photo ID, and any current prescription. If you've been dosing elsewhere, please let us know the pharmacy and your usual dose.

Transferring, visiting, interstate

Moving from another pharmacy, another state, or visiting Sunshine: we can usually arrange continuity of dosing. We accept interstate prescriptions and holiday or visiting dosing, subject to current capacity.

Please contact us a few days ahead where possible so we can confirm your prescription, dosing history (via SafeScript and your prescriber) and arrangements before your first dose.

What your visits are like

We supervise dosing in a private, discreet area, separate from the retail floor. The pharmacist confirms your identity, prepares the dose according to the prescription, and observes administration according to the relevant clinical requirements.

The dosing relationship is clinical and confidential. We keep the process calm, direct and respectful.

Takeaways

Takeaway doses are decided together by your prescriber and your dosing pharmacist, based on a safety assessment using the Victorian Department of Health's takeaway-dose appropriateness checklist. We will explain the decision clearly and review it as your treatment progresses.

Long-acting injectable pharmacotherapy

If your prescriber orders a long-acting injectable pharmacotherapy option, a trained pharmacist can administer it here in a private consult space when the prescription and clinical requirements are in place. We stay clinically engaged with you throughout the arrangement.

Cost

There are no additional pharmacy dosing or dispensing service fees for this program. Any medicine cost, PBS Safety Net position or concession status should be checked against your current prescription and Medicare details.

If you hold a concession card, the co-payment is lower. If you are unsure of your eligibility, ask us at any visit.

PBS co-payment figures are 2026 maximums set by the Commonwealth Government and may change.

Missed doses, travel, holidays

Contact us early when you know you may miss a dose or be away. We will work with your prescriber on what to do. If you have already missed a dose, contact us before re-attending so we can advise safely.

In withdrawal right now

Opioid withdrawal is very rarely life-threatening, but it is genuinely distressing: aches, sweating, stomach cramps, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, a racing heart, broken sleep and strong cravings. It is treatable, you do not have to face it alone, and fear of withdrawal is itself one of the most common reasons people relapse.

The serious danger is not the withdrawal itself. It is relapsing afterwards. Once you have been through withdrawal your tolerance drops quickly, so an amount you used comfortably before can now cause a fatal overdose. Anyone going through withdrawal should have take-home naloxone, and someone close to them should know how to use it and to call an ambulance. We supply naloxone here, free.

Withdrawal on its own is also rarely a successful way to stop for good. Relapse is very common. Staying on pharmacotherapy is far more effective, and far safer, than withdrawal alone. If you are thinking about withdrawal, talk to us or a prescriber about your options first.

What to do now:

  1. If you are already a patient here, call the dosing pharmacist. We can check your prescription and dosing record and work out the safest next step with your prescriber.
  2. If you do not have a prescriber yet, call DirectLine on 1800 888 236. It is free, confidential and open 24 hours, and it can connect you to a pharmacotherapy prescriber.
  3. Do not take someone else's dose, and do not top up with other drugs to manage withdrawal. Mixing opioids with alcohol, benzodiazepines or other sedatives is when overdose risk is highest.
  4. Carry take-home naloxone and make sure someone close to you knows how to use it. If you feel unsafe, cannot keep fluids down, have chest pain, or are thinking of harming yourself, call 000, or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.
  5. If you are pregnant, do not go through withdrawal. It is not recommended in pregnancy because of the risk of miscarriage and premature labour. You need an urgent referral to a specialist antenatal and drug-and-alcohol service, and staying in treatment is safer for you and your baby. Call us or your prescriber straight away.

Withdrawal is a reason to contact us early, not a reason to stay away. We will not judge you for being in withdrawal.

If you have used today

If you have used opioids or other drugs today and you are due to dose, tell the pharmacist before you dose. It is not a trick question and it does not get you discharged. It changes the safety assessment, and we would rather know.

Why it matters: your supervised dose is calculated to be safe on its own. Recent opioid, alcohol, benzodiazepine or other sedative use adds on top of it, and that combination is the main cause of overdose. The pharmacist may need to check on you, adjust the timing, hold the dose, or speak with your prescriber before supervising it. That decision is about safety, not punishment.

What to do:

  1. Tell the pharmacist plainly what you have taken and roughly when. You do not need to explain why.
  2. Wait for the pharmacist's safety check. If dosing is not safe right now, we will tell you clearly what happens next.
  3. Take naloxone home with you. It is free, and we will show you and someone close to you how to use it.
  4. If you feel very drowsy, your breathing slows, or someone cannot be woken, call 000 straight away and give naloxone.

We treat this as ordinary clinical care. Being honest about use on the day is what keeps your dosing safe and keeps you in treatment.

Naloxone and overdose response

Naloxone reverses opioid overdose. It is free, no prescription, available to anyone at risk of or likely to witness an opioid overdose, including family, friends and peers (Victoria permits peer and secondary supply under the Take Home Naloxone program).

If you see an overdose:

  1. Call 000.
  2. Give naloxone (nasal spray or injection; we will show you how).
  3. Stay with the person. Naloxone wears off in 30–90 minutes; another dose may be needed.

We supply take-home naloxone here free under the government program, with brief training for you and a family member or friend.

Hepatitis C, hepatitis B and HIV

People who have used opioids are sometimes at higher risk of blood-borne viruses. We can provide awareness information and warm referral to specialist liver and sexual-health services. We will treat you with the same dignity whether you have a BBV diagnosis or not.

For local information and testing, see Burnet Institute, Hepatitis Victoria, EC Partnership, Thorne Harbour Health and Melbourne Sexual Health Centre.

Harm reduction

Whatever your current situation, we will work with you. Harm reduction means safer-use information, wound-care guidance, overdose-prevention education, and referral pathways into AOD and mental-health services when you want them. We will not pressure you and we will not discharge you for using.

Confidentiality

Your dosing arrangement is confidential. Pharmacy staff outside the dosing team do not access your dosing details. We do not share your treatment information with anyone other than your prescriber and your nominated treating team without your consent, except where law requires.

Contact

Call the dosing pharmacist. The dosing-pharmacist line reaches a person during dosing hours; outside dosing hours, leave a message and we will return your call.

Built around the people who use it

Three audiences. One hub.

Patients, prescribers, support workers, each has a different first question. The hub answers them in the language they actually use, without the runaround.

  1. For patients

    Built around your day.

    “Can I start, transfer, or visit without it becoming a project?”

    • One named dosing pharmacist on duty.
    • Dosing handled at the semi-private side counter, not the retail queue.
    • Multilingual staff so the conversation actually happens.
    Open patient tools
  2. For prescribers

    A referral that closes the loop.

    “Will the pharmacy actually pick up the phone?”

    • Acceptance confirmed in ≤ 2 business hours during dosing hours.
    • Structured referral form, mailto-based, no portal log-in.
    • Missed doses escalated back to the treating team.
    Open prescriber tools
  3. For support workers

    Calm, co-ordinated, ready.

    “Where do I bring someone who needs to be seen today?”

    • Capacity checked on the phone before travel.
    • Direction-ready page for every suburb in the catchment.
    • Take-home naloxone supply under the Commonwealth program.
    Find a location

In your language

Short summaries in the catchment's counter languages.

Full English content above. The translation widget at the top-right can render the whole page in any of 50 languages.

Phone first

Call before starting, transferring, or visiting.

The dosing pharmacist confirms capacity, timing and what to bring on the day.

03 9364 7133Refer a patientEmail