SUBMISSIONS responding to the Pharmacy Board of Australia's discussion paper on pharmacist prescribing, show mixed views on the possible expansion of the profession's scope of practice.
The Consumer Health Forum (CHF) said it "supports a cautious approach to moving towards greater involvement of pharmacists in prescribing".
However, it added, "making pharmacists prescribers should not be the only solution to problems with access to medicines".
Former Curtin University Head of the School of Pharmacy, Professor Jeff Hughes, and Professor Emeritus Bruce Sunderland, voiced their support for pharmacist prescribing, saying "the recently established appendix M should be used to set requirements for their prescribing and provision".
Adding there was strong public support for pharmacist prescribing, while those participating in a series of prescribing vignettes showed high levels of appropriate prescribing.
Hughes and Sunderland noted that data from the Bettering the Evaluation and Care of Health study estimated current antibiotic prescribing for acute respiratory infections occurred at rates four to nine times those recommended by therapeutic guidelines.
Submissions from the AMA, RACGP and Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophtamlogists voiced concerns over pharmacist prescribing, with the AMA questioning a number of assumptions made by the Board.
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