URGENT action is required to boost medicines safety challenges in rural and remote parts of Australia, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) believes.
Launching its Medicine Safety: Rural and Remote Care report over the weekend, the PSA issued five recommendations to improve quality use of medicine, by boosting the rural pharmacist workforce capacity and capability; encouraging collaborative pharmacy practice; improving access to medication management reviews (including removing caps for the provision of Home Medicine Reviews and Residential Medication Management Reviews in Modified Monash Model three to seven areas); embedding pharmacists within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs); and developing national minimum medicine safety standards and quality benchmarks.
The report noted that medication non-adherence was a significant issue in rural Australia, creating an estimated $2 billion in healthcare costs, while the rate of unintentional drug-induced deaths was significantly higher than in capital cities.
PSA National President, Associate Professor Chris Freeman, said the seven million Australians living in rural locations "deserve better".
Freeman also noted that there was a lack of data with medicine safety problems not being routinely logged, reported and monitored.
"This is in part due to the tyranny of distance, inflexible regulations and health workforce shortages," he said.
"One of the most concerning findings is the lack of data and these numbers are conservative and a gross underestimation.
"We need to be far better at recording these medicine-related problems when they occur so we can provide better care and better solutions.
"Pharmacists in rural and remote areas are often the main available health care provider and we need to allow them to be able to use their expertise to support the patients.
"It should not matter where you live -- all Australians are worthy of the best health care the country can provide.
"We must address rural and remote challenges of medicine safety as a matter of urgency."
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 15 Mar 21
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