REPRESENTATIVES from both sides of NSW politics are backing calls for pharmacists to practice to their full scope.
Speaking at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia NSW Branch's annual Parliamentary Dinner last night, Minister for Regional Health and Mental Health, Bronnie Taylor, and Shadow Health Minister Ryan Park, stressed the need for pharmacists to play a greater role in the State's health system.
"My personal belief is pharmacists are the most under-utilised profession in the NSW health system, and that has to stop," Taylor said.
"We need to increase the scope of practice of pharmacists and I will continue to make sure that we keep pushing those doors open to make sure that we can do that.
"It's been really exciting to see the demonstrated evidence come out of the Queensland (urinary tract infection) trial - I think that's really important [to have evidence], because we all come from a science background - I still am a registered nurse.
"What we should do locally, and what we can do safely, we absolutely should, and if it's going to provide our patients, our consumers - the people who live in our communities, with better health outcomes then that's what we need to push through."
Addressing delegates at the dinner, Shadow Health Minister, Ryan Park, said that the COVID-19 pandemic had provided "the opportunity to begin a serious look at increasing the scope of practice of pharmacies and pharmacists".
"This is something I believe legislators should look very carefully at," he said.
"We are in a very challenging period in terms of access to primary healthcare in this State.
"It's a challenge both in the cities, but also a big challenge in regional and rural communities.
"Having spoken to many regional and rural pharmacists, they've made it very clear to me... that pharmacists have the ability to do more, they want to do more, because they want to help the community.
"Those things are important, not just to pharmacists, they're important to the community and they're important to the health system."
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