FINDINGS from the Tasmanian Legislative Council Government Administration 'A' Sub-Committee inquiring into Rural Health Services Final Report, highlight the potential for pharmacists to work to their full scope of practice, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmanian Branch President, Helen O'Byrne, believes.
The report found barriers to accessing health care across rural and regional Tasmania were "many" and included people living in low socio-economic circumstances, low levels of health and digital literacy, and the costs associated with access to health services including transport and technology costs.
O'Byrne noted that the report highlighted the potential for all healthcare practitioners to work to their full scope of practice.
"Pharmacists, if enabled through full scope of practice, could play a huge role in the ongoing management of many health conditions for people across Tasmania", she said.
"We only have to look to Queensland to see the positive role pharmacists have played in diagnosing and treating uncomplicated urinary tract infections, with over 10,000 women treated over the past two-and-half years."
O'Byrne urged the Tasmanian Government to reinstate the full list of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medications that pharmacists can dispense while waiting for a prescription, as they were during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, to improve access to medicines for patients who are unable to see their GP in time to get a renewal.
"The option for a pharmacist to provide one full supply - generally one month - of a person's regular medication is better than the person going without and potentially having an adverse event and ending up in hospital," she said.
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