Pharmacy Daily | Something’s got to change – Twomey

PHARMACY Guild National President Trent Twomey this morning urged State and Territory Governments to implement new legislation enabling community pharmacists to practice to the full extent of their training.

In the opening session of the Australian Pharmacy Professional 2021 (APP) conference on the Gold Coast, he said the profession must "strive to practice to full scope".

"We need to be at the forefront of change, to guide and ensure we restore our profession to the status and prestige it once had," he said.

"We need to lead primary healthcare initiatives in our communities and ensure that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme returns to a truly universal system, regardless of where you live.

"We are highly trained medicines experts who are restricted from performing the most simple of tasks - for instance we can sell a patient a vitamin B injection, but we can't help them with administering it, whilst we can give them a flu vaccine.

"We can demonstrate to a patient how to use a reliever, but we can't actually press the button to ensure that they use it safely.

"Clearly things need to change.

"As qualified primary healthcare professionals pharmacists should have the authority to prescribe, to dispense, to administer and to review all medicines for all patients.

"This should be underpinned by robust national competency standards, it should be legislated in all States and Territories, and funded and recognised by the Commonwealth Government."

MEANWHILE this morning's APP sessions also included the announcement of the Pharmacy of the Year, which has been awarded to "all 5,900 community pharmacies across the nation".

The decision was described as "inspired" by Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt.

After a year in which pharmacists supported communities through bushfires and the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunt told delegates that "I could not think of a wiser, fairer nor more appropriate choice."

"I think 2020 has been the finest year in the history of pharmacy in Australia, certainly in the last 100 years", he said.

"You were there, you were dispensing medicines, you were providing that emotional support, that mental health support, you were providing services... and above all else, you gave people a sense of belief that if our pharmacists were staying on the frontline, 'we can do this'."

Hunt also commended the Guild's collaboration with the Government in implementing anti-stockpiling measures, and the uptake of the Home Medicines Service, which has now seen over 2.6 million prescriptions delivered to patients.

An initial $20 million allocation of funding in Mar 2020 has now grown to $35.5 million, he said.