THE Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) is warning that expanding pharmacy prescribing powers across South Australia will compromise patient safety and wellbeing.
It comes following the Professional Pharmacists Australia's (PPA) submission to the state's Select Committee on Access to Urinary Tract Infection Treatment inquiry.
The PPA, which represents more than 7,000 pharmacist and pharmacist technician members, has outlined a number of concerns including workforce shortages and doubts over the capacity of employee pharmacists to absorb further demands, particularly in rural and regional communities.
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins said the PPA's warnings should be heeded.
"The South Australian Government should sit up, take notice, and listen carefully to what this union is saying," Higgins said.
"Pharmacy prescribing, including for urinary tract infections, is a recipe for disaster.
"Now we have confirmation from this union and professional association that pharmacists just don't have the capacity to take on these additional responsibilities.
"The union's state director Paul Inglis has said that workforce shortages and demands on pharmacists' time are already resulting in high levels of work stress and burnout.
"So, any additional work, such as pharmacist prescribing, will only add to this burden.
"His submission also hits the nail on the head when it comes to why we have always separated prescribing and dispensing powers.
"Inglis states that his organisation is concerned about how the potential conflict of interest between prescribing and dispensing medications will be managed.
"I couldn't have said it better myself, let's stop this madness before it's too late."
The RACGP President said concerns raised in the submission regarding indemnity were particularly alarming.
"The PPA submission raises fears about increases to professional indemnity insurance for pharmacists if their scope of practice is extended to prescribing.
"At the end of the day any increased costs will unfairly fall on working pharmacists.
"Many of the pharmacists that that I speak to, both locally and further afield, are very concerned about diagnosing and prescribing.
"They're concerned that they'll be put at risk because they are doing new tasks that we know carry significant risks.
"The skill of general practice is knowing when not to prescribe, having the ability to examine the patient, and be able to investigate for other causes."
Higgins said it was ominous that the push for pharmacy prescribing was driven by the Pharmacy Guild and not by the interests of either pharmacist employees or patients.
"The Pharmacy Guild represents the pharmacy owners, not the workers," said Higgins.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 22 Mar 23
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 22 Mar 23
