THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia has strongly backed the "autonomous prescribing" model for pharmacists, proposed as one of three options by the Pharmacy Board of Australia in its current consultation on pharmacist prescribing (PD 06 Mar).
The Guild's formal response to the consultation cites UK research showing that pharmacist prescribing is "as safe and effective as doctor prescribing," saying the other two options in the paper "will not address any of the public needs for improving medicines access and management".
Other options canvassed include collaborative prescribing under structured or supervised arrangements, which the Guild said would be less effective.
"If pharmacist prescribing is to contribute to the delivery of sustainable, responsive and affordable access to medicines, then prescribing has to be autonomous," the Guild said.
"Prescribing under a structured prescribing arrangement or under supervision relies on another health care professional and will therefore not be flexible enough to meet the needs of all Australians who for example may live in a rural or remote area where there is no or very limited access to a medical doctor or nurse practitioner."
The Guild noted that current pharmacy undergraduate programs address some of the competencies to prescribe, while identified gaps could be addressed and included in the curriculums of accredited degree programs.
"We are confident that accredited training programs can be developed for currently registered pharmacists to update their skills so that they can be endorsed as autonomous pharmacist prescribers," the Guild submission added, suggesting a framework based on the UK model where prescribing pharmacists would require at least two years' post registration experience.
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