REPRESENTATIVES of general practitioners are being urged to focus on their own scope of practice, rather than voicing opinions on pharmacists' training and competencies.
Responding to criticism of the decisions to down schedule sumatriptan and zolmitriptan (PD 08 May), by Royal Australia College of General Practitioners (RACGP) Executive Committee for Quality Care Chair, Dr Mark Morgan, who warned the management of patient use of triptan was "far beyond the training and ability of a pharmacist", Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) National President, Dr Chris Freeman, said the decision reflected the confidence the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has in pharmacists.
"The decision to down-schedule these medicines will allow those suffering from migraines to access sumatriptan and zolmitriptan as quickly as possible, which is important for patients taking this medication due to migraine pain," he said.
"To be clear, this remains well within the scope of practice of pharmacists, and Dr Morgan should refrain from providing comment outside his own scope of practice, that is the training and competencies of pharmacists.
"PSA will be working to deliver guidance and implementation tools to support pharmacists to fulfil their professional obligations in the handling and provision of these medicines which have been rescheduled to Pharmacist Only medicines.
"Migraines don't always present 9-5, Mon to Fri and patients who suffer from migraines need relief quickly sometimes in the matter of minutes and the fact they now don't need to worry about having a prescription on hand is a very good outcome for them."
Meanwhile, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania Branch Director, Monique Mackrill, defended calls for emergency supply measures to be made permanent, in a post on LinkedIn, responding to criticism by RACGP President, Dr Harry Nespolon.
"Being able to supply medication under continued dispensing arrangements makes a lot of sense, during the current pandemic and beyond," she said.
"Pharmacists have stayed in their practices, managing medication requests for many vulnerable people during the current crisis working to manage the impacts of recent telehealth consultation changes where medications are regularly prescribed over the phone with pharmacists required to provide advice as to the validity of the condition.
"I believe that on the ground pharmacists and doctors are working in collaboration to ensure that people receive the care they need."
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