THE Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has urged a large scale trial integrating pharmacists in general practices, as part of its 2017-18 pre-budget submission unveiled yesterday.
PSA National President Joe Demarte also suggested pharmacists should be included in the Health Care Homes initiative, describing both options as "cost-effective solutions" the government should consider.
"There's a significant opportunity for the government to further optimise the contribution of pharmacists to improve healthcare and reduce costs in Australia's health system," Demarte said.
The Health Care Homes initiative could see pharmacists provide medication management, high quality medicines advice and education to consumers, particularly those with chronic and complex conditions.
"Including a pharmacist in the HCH team has the potential to reduce poly-pharmacy, as well as preventable medication-related hospital admissions and readmissions...without a pharmacist in the HCH team, Australia lags behind other countries in terms of evidence-based models of care," he added.
The PSA budget submission also urges the reform of funding arrangements to optimise the role of pharmacists in rural and remote areas, to reduce the burden on hospitals and other medical professionals.
PSA is backing a Minor Ailments Scheme under which pharmacy would provide safe and effective primary care - a strategy which has been demonstrated in the UK and Canada as being cost-effective and rapidly implementable.
Also in the submission is a push for the government to allocate funding to develop quality indicators to measure health outcomes for pharmacist practice.
The full PSA submission is online at www.psa.org.au.
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