THE NSW pharmacist prescribing trial for uncomplicated UTIs will be expanded to over 1,000 pharmacists soon, confirmed the state's Health Minister Ryan Park in Parliament yesterday.
"We'll be announcing and committing that this trial will go to over 1,000 pharmacies right across New South Wales.
"This is particularly important for those in rural and regional New South Wales because their ability to access healthcare is not as easy as those of us in large metropolitan cities, and that is why this trial is very important.
"But later on, we're expanding it yet again.
"And we will be making sure that women between the ages of 18 and 39 years will be able to access the contraceptive pill straight from their pharmacy," Park said.
He added that "over 500 women have utilised the prescribing service for UTIs in the past month".
"We will continue to look at opportunities every single step of the way, both in this trial and in other professions to ensure that as we expand the scope, improve access to healthcare, and continue to focus on making sure that it is safe and delivered in the highest possible way in terms of quality assurance and safety.
"We won't be putting patient safety at risk - we will never ever do that," he asserted.
Park explained that the trial was "researched, undertaken by a number of universities and evaluated".
"Further, we're working with the RACGP to get its support to make sure that the link between pharmacy and doctors remains very strong and is at the core in the way in which healthcare needs to be delivered."
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