CALLS from the Australian Medical Association (AMA) for doctors to unite against the rollout of the Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot - Queensland (UTIPP-Q), are being branded "anti-patient" by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia.
Responding to claims that the trial of pharmacist prescribing would lead to overprescribing and see Queenslanders treated to "a bargain basement version of health care", Guild National Vice President, Trent Twomey, accused the AMA Queensland President, Dr Chris Perry, of putting GPs' incomes ahead of patient care.
"The old scare campaigns voiced by some doctors are anti-patient and do reputational damage to their own profession," Twomey said.
"It's disappointing that some doctors still maintain an 'us' versus 'them' mentality based on their hip-pocket.
"Patients should be the centre of our health system, but unfortunately some doctors believe they are the centre of the health system.
"The ongoing attack on fellow primary healthcare professionals, health and allied health practitioners is frankly ridiculous.
"Queensland should be at the forefront of the best primary healthcare practices. The UTIPP-Q is yet another example of safe and effective innovation in the primary healthcare model.
"We make no apology for putting patient-centred primary healthcare first," Twomey said.
"Although the pilot is new for Queensland, other OECD countries, including New Zealand and the United Kingdom, have had pharmacists prescribing treatment for UTIs for many years.
"Over the next two years we'll see the pilot's successful results do the talking."
However, Perry, accused the State Government of implementing a "new style of patient care under the guise of choice and convenience, but it's simply a bargain basement version of health care", with non-medical health professionals taking on roles previously the sole domain of doctors.
"Queensland is the only state or territory in the country to allow a trial where pharmacists can diagnose urinary tract infections instead of GPs, and sell antibiotics over the counter without conducting any tests to be sure there is an infection, and at a time when the country is facing a serious problem of antibiotic resistance because of over-prescribing," he said.
"We have a health system which favours a midwife-led childbirth model over the use of obstetricians, because the State Government will not pay for rural and regional women to have the same access to labour, delivery and post-natal services as their city-living sisters.
"Doctors are extremely concerned about the direction of our health care system and we are providing them with an opportunity to voice their concerns,"
"Enough is enough. We believe there are serious risks in providing this kind of inferior patient care."
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