Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy can bridge gap

PHARMACY Guild of Australia executive director David Quilty has said pharmacy could play a role in bridging the health gap between major cities and rural and remote Australia. Writing in forefront, Quilty said the disparity in health services and outcomes between these areas, including the National Rural Health Alliance estimate that there was a $2.4b a year deficit in access to primary health care services in rural Australia, was unacceptable. Pharmacy could help bridge the divide, with more than 800 pharmacies in rural areas sometimes being the first port of call and only readily accessible health support, Quilty said. Policy makers should recognise this potential including for pharmacies to take a greater role in the likes of vaccines and collaborative care, Quilty said. Other opportunities included telehealth hubs, diagnosing of minor ailments and supplying identified treatments through a recordable, pharmacist-only medicines schedule, he said. National Rural Health Alliance executive director Gordon Gregory said the Alliance was delighted to have the Guild advocating for action to improve country people’s health. It was hoping to put together a consortium to do a more thorough study of the deficits and to provide government with evidence of ways to modify them, Gregory said. A three pronged approach was needed, including that health graduates spent some time in rural areas, that health care demand be moderated through illness prevention and that workforce redesign occurred, where the amount of clinical practice needed was shared more efficiently, with other members of the health team performing what only more specialised workers usually did in urban areas, he said. Rural Doctors Association of Australia (RDAA) ceo Jenny Johnson said rural doctors acknowledged the importance of the pharmacist’s role, however the RDAA would have a number of reservations about pharmacies extending their role too much. There did not appear to be any evidence that it was easier to attract a pharmacist to a rural role, she said. Rural GPs were important because they were most likely acting as a visiting medical officer performing other roles such as on call and emergency duties for the local hospital, and shifting focus to other issues could detract from the focus of attracting doctors to rural areas, and these other services would suffer, she said. There was a lot of potential for collaborative care arrangements and providing continuity of care when it came to doctors and pharmacists working together, she said - CLICK HERE for more.

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