Pharmacy Daily | Mental health full scope opportunity

PHARMACISTS have the skills to play a greater role in the care of patients with mental health issues, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, Emma McBride (pictured), believes.

Speaking at the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's (PSA's) conference last week, the pharmacist-turned-politician told delegates that the area of mental health was one "that pharmacists can truly reach their full scope of practice".

"I know that pharmacists are doing a lot in mental health and suicide prevention, and I know that we have a lot more to offer," she said.

"We know that through the [COVID-19] pandemic some people experienced mental ill health for the first time.

"I'm sure many of you saw the AIHW (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare) report that came out last week, with quite stark figures about the prevalence of mental ill health, particularly being expressed in young people and women.

"We know that in 2020/21 15% of Australians aged 16 to 85 experienced high to very high levels of psychological distress.

"We know women were more likely to experience psychological distress then men, and young people were more than twice as likely to experience distress than those over the age of 35.

"Pharmacists have so much to contribute to the mental health and wellbeing of all Australians - you're often the first port of call, the first contact that someone has with the healthcare system when they're seeking support, and we need to do more.

"As a pharmacist, I worked in a high dependency acute unit - we want to make sure that people get early intervention, early in life, early in the course of illness.

"We will always need critical care, but pharmacists have a greater role to play in primary care, so that we can make sure that people get the best chance.

"It's an area where I think that pharmacists can truly reach their full scope of practice."