MEDICAL organisations are painting the pharmacy profession as the stumbling block to the rollout of digital health in Australia, because a small proportion of the profession is reluctant to embrace the new technology, Queensland pharmacist, Karalyn Huxhagen, believes.
In a thread posted on Twitter, Huxhagen, said she had "learnt that there is an active group of pharmacists working to derail the rollout of the digital health strategy".
Speaking with Pharmacy Daily, Huxhagen said a representative from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) had reported that GPs in inner Sydney, who have been issuing e-script tokens, have been forced to issue paper prescriptions, as pharmacists in the area were telling patients they were unable to, or did not want to dispense tokens.
"What's happened is the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the RACGP has started beating up pharmacy, because they claim we're not ready," she said.
"Where the Department of Health and the Australian Digital Health Agency will show you figures of pharmacies that are ready to go, and they have really strong numbers.
"[While] there are small pockets that are holding out... the majority of pharmacy is not the problem, it's a tiny cohort that's got a lot of voice.
"If we keep doing what's happening in inner Sydney at the moment... that just gives the RACGP and the AMA so much fuel to say, 'pharmacy's not up to this, we'll takeover doing the whole process'."
Huxhagen added that having up-to-date hardware and software was critical for the successful introduction of e-scripts in pharmacy, but with Federal Government's instant asset write-off she said there was plenty of support to "get all this happening".
Highlighting the strong uptake amongst pharmacies, Fred IT Group General Manager eHealth, David Freemantle, told Pharmacy Daily that 80% of pharmacies using Fred were activated.
"We are working with our customers regarding any ideas for making the services better," he said.
"If pharmacies have particular concerns, they should contact their vendor."
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