THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia says Australia's community pharmacy sector stands ready to fill gaps in primary care, citing a new Productivity Commission report which highlights the burden on GPs and hospitals.
The report said there were three million "avoidable" hospital presentations in 2017-18, where people who should have seen a GP went to a hospital emergency department instead.
One million Australians also put off seeing a doctor because they could not afford it, the report said.
"Community pharmacies are an under-utilised and highly accessible asset in our health system, and we can do more to ease the strain both on hospital emergency departments and on hard-pressed doctors' surgeries," said Guild National President, George Tambassis.
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