THE Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) national president Joe Demarte has issued a warning to his colleagues to embrace new opportunities for the profession or risk missing openings for professional growth, in an "evidence-based" document facing issues around integration of pharmacists into GP practices.
With some disquiet among some sectors about the concept, the PSA has come out strongly with its position plainly stated.
The Fact Check document, as it is called, which is supported by local and international evidence, the PSA states, "outlines the wide-ranging benefits of integrating pharmacists in a GP environment as part of an interprofessional team."
PSA national president Joe Demarte said: "Pharmacists working in General Practice is one of several innovative strategies PSA is pursuing to support pharmacists to practice to their full scope, ensuring their skills can be optimised in consumer-focused, cost-effective, collaborative models of care."
Demarte said PSA had led the GP-pharmacist model in Australia following many years of advocacy and positive stakeholder relationships culminating in a collaborative model of care that had widespread support across Australia's healthcare community.
Referencing the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) Pharmacy Barometer released this week (PD 09 Nov), Demarte added that pharmacists working in a medical practice were widely supported by the pharmacy community.
While the PSA is very clear about its support for the community pharmacy, it is also clarifying that it supports "the role of pharmacists working in general practices and see the two roles as complementary, not in opposition to one another."
Demarte summarised, "As a profession, if we put up barriers to innovation, we may miss opportunities for pharmacists to play a role in the broader health reform being progressed by government -- opportunities that are critical to pharmacists being utilised to their full potential."
Visit www.psa.org.au for more.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 11 Nov 16
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 11 Nov 16