THE Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has called for increased competition and patient choice, in its submission to the Western Australian Government Review of Community Pharmacy Ownership.
The RACGP said it does not support the current pharmacy ownership rules and urges the Western Australian Government to consider why these regulations apply exclusively to pharmacy.
RACGP Western Australia chair Dr Tim Koh said general practice and pharmacy, while interconnected on paper, have a history of being segregated industries, which is detrimental to patients.
"General practice and pharmacy are intrinsically linked through their respective roles in prescribing and dispensing medicines for patients," Dr Koh said.
"Yet, in Australia, GPs and pharmacists generally work in silos.
"Better integration of pharmacists into GP-led teams could bring benefits to patients as well as the healthcare team itself," he said.
Koh said claims that pharmacy location and ownership rules promote access to PBS medicines and encourage sustainability of the community pharmacy sector "are questionable".
The most recent report from the King Review of Pharmacy Remuneration and Regulation outlined options relating to pharmacy location and ownership rules, Koh said.
However despite the location rules recommendations from the review, Health Minister Greg Hunt instead moved to legislate the suspension of the existing sunset clause on pharmacy location rules (PD 10 May 2017) to "provide pharmacy owners with ongoing confidence that approval to supply pharmaceutical benefits at particular premises will continue to be regulated" according to the government's 2017 Budget papers.
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