INADEQUATE hospital pharmacy staffing is contributing to "access block" in the NSW hospital system, Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) NSW Branch Chair, Dr Jonathan Penm, believes.
Addressing the Impact of ambulance ramping and access block on the operation of hospital emergency departments in NSW Inquiry last week, Penm said the State's hospital pharmacy departments were "the most poorly resourced in Australia".
"Our members are telling us that pharmacy is often the hold-up to discharge," he said.
"This is because there are just not enough pharmacists employed in NSW hospitals.
"In NSW public hospitals, there are approximately 25% more inpatient beds than Victorian public hospitals.
"However, there are 25% less hospital pharmacists in NSW compared to our Victorian counterparts.
"Addressing the workforce gap is key to ensuring pharmacists can do their part to assist with health system capacity, emergency department overcrowding, bed flow and access block."
SPHA Head of Policy and Advocacy, Jerry Yik, told the Inquiry that unlike in other jurisdictions, hospital pharmacists in NSW fall under the purview of the Chief Allied Health Officer, and funding for additional pharmacy services often gets shared with other health providers, such as occupational therapists.
"So pharmacy, by that nature, gets a much smaller slice of the pie compared to other States where pharmacy sits by itself outside of allied health and alongside medical," Yik said.
"So I think having that recognition of pharmacy services and the importance of pharmacists under how NSW Health is structured is really, really important because the way that it's currently structured means we're just not getting enough pharmacists."
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