THE $20 million Pain MedsCheck scheme under the Pharmacy Trial Program has been delayed, with an update to Guild members from president George Tambassis confirming the original timeline for the project will not be achieved.
Health Minister Greg Hunt announced in Jan that he would like Pain MedsChecks to be up and running last month.
However "as a research based grant activity, the program must comply with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guildlines and the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research.
"The Guild and the Government are working collaboratively to ensure that the Pain MedsChecks trial will commence in commnity pharmacies as soon as possible, with a date to be announced shortly," Tambassis said.
The Guild president said the delay was disappointing, however it is important to ensure the service being trialled is robust and is able to be assessed for clinical effectiveness, cost effectiveness and comparative safety.
"Establishing sound outcomes from the trial provides further evidence to support the expanded role of community pharmacy within the primary health care team, which is in the long term interests of community pharmacies," he said.
MEANWHILE Tambassis also noted another delay, in relation to $30 million which has been allocated to enable community pharmacies to participate in the Health Care Homes (HCH) trials.
He said over the last six months the Guild had been working with the Department of Health "to enable expenditure of the $30 million over the remainder of the 6CPA in a way that enables community pharmacies to work with patients in developing and implementing personalised medication management plans".
Tambassis said the initiative would for the first time recognise the role of community pharmacy as an integral part of a patient's care team, and remunerate pharmacies for overall medicines support, planning and implementation.
"We had hoped that this work would be completed in time for pharmacies to commence delivering the HCH program from early April, but it is now clear that it is likely to be late April or May before the program will be able to commence on the ground.
"Again this is disappointing, but equally it is vital that we get this ground-breaking program right," Tambassis concluded.
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