QUEENSLAND-BASED pharmacists need to grasp the opportunity to take part in the state's pharmacist prescribing trial with both hands or risk losing out, former Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Kos Sclavos (pictured), has warned.
Speaking at Pharmacy Connect in Sydney on Sat morning, after a presentation highlighting evidence showing the clinical and economic benefits of pharmacists working to their full scope of practice in Canada, Sclavos encouraged pharmacy owners to take advantage of the work the Guild has done to encourage the Queensland Government to approve the trial of limited pharmacist prescribing for oral contraceptive and antibiotics for urinary tract infections (PD 18 Apr).
"To the executives of pharmacy groups, the message today clearly is to please support us in Queensland when the Guild reaches out to you in the next few months, because you can make a massive difference," he said.
"Our biggest issue is recruitment, [but] this is a massive opportunity for pharmacy, [and] I can't stress enough, as somebody who goes to lots of meetings with the Queensland Government, we are facing fierce competition.
"For every one meeting we have, the doctors' groups have seven or eight trying to unpick the whole trial," Sclavos warned.
While Sclavos highlighted the threat posed by the medical profession seeking to undermine pharmacy, he noted the state government was receptive to the Guild's push for pharmacist prescribing.
"We are very fortunate in the Queensland senior government management team - I mean, Premier, Treasurer and inner Cabinet, is so dominated by females who actually find it offensive that there are male doctors going along saying 'how dare you want easy access to these products," he said.
"We need to have politicians who have the gumption to make these decision, and in Queensland they've done that."
Guild NSW Vice President, Caroline Diamantis, added that "a lot of legislation that has been drawn up by men has actually disadvantaged women...some of these things we have to deal with men have no idea".
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 09 Sep 19
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 09 Sep 19
