POLICY leaders from Australia's two major parties and the Greens have voiced their support for pharmacists, in their responses to five key pre-election commitments called for by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA).
PSA President, Dr Chris Freeman, welcomed the bipartisan support for the profession and the role pharmacists can play in tackling the rise of medicine-related harm.
"Medicine-related problems cause 250,000 hospital admissions and 400,000 emergency department presentations in Australia each year, costing the healthcare system $1.4 billion annually. At least half of this harm is avoidable, and pharmacists are the key to improving the safe and quality use of medicines," Dr Freeman said.
"To meet community health needs, we must ensure pharmacists can practise to their full potential, develop within a team of health professionals and have a quality agenda for the services and care they deliver.
"PSA looks forward to working closely with an incoming Government to empower pharmacists to do more to deliver better healthcare for all Australians."
While the PSA noted the three major parties supported its call to take steps to combat medicine-related harm and for greater integration of pharmacists into multidisciplinary teams, the PSA has not confirmed whether it had received support to include it as a signatory to the 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement, which was one of the five commitments it requested (PD 15 Apr).
Pharmacy Daily understands that the PSA's advisory relationship with Australian Healthcare Associates (AHA) the administrator of the 6CPA Community Pharmacy Programs, may need to be examined if it is to be a signatory to the next agreement.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 16 May 19
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