PHARMACISTS across Australia should be empowered to prescribe medications to ensure patients retain access to primary care services, as the country grapples with a shortage of GPs, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Western Australian Branch President, Andrew Ngeow, believes.
In an opinion piece published in The West Australian on Sat, Ngeow noted that WA has the lowest number of GPs of any mainland state, and that one-in-three people in the State are unable to access urgent GP care within 24 hours.
"This week alone, Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler said he is terrified at the small number of young doctors, junior medical graduates who are choosing general practice as a career," he said.
"So bad is the situation, that the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Australia's largest representative body for GPs, recently held a General Practice Crisis Summit after having identified that, as their workforce ages, 25% of Australia's current GPs intend on retiring within the next five years.
"Given all this, and the likelihood that it will be even more difficult to access a GP into the future, there is a critical and urgent need to act and act now.
"We must use our trained health workforce at their full capacity, their 'top of scope' to deliver more services to patients."
In a separate statement issued today, Ngeow praised Queensland Health Minister, Yvette D'Ath, for giving the North Queensland Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot (NQPSPP) the green light last week (PD 13 Oct).
"This is a significant step forward, and better aligns us with international patient care models," Ngeow said.
"Pharmacy prescribing is an effective mechanism which is already utilised in countries including Canada, New Zealand and the UK.
"I'm absolutely confident that the NQPSPP will demonstrate the benefits of the better utilisation of pharmacists in the provision of primary healthcare."
He added that pharmacist prescribing was not about replacing GPs, but providing patient choice.
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