Chemists out of uni to treat chronic illness with no GP

Chemists just out of university will be managing serious health conditions like heart disease and asthma within a year, with doctors calling on the government to “halt this madness”.

Chemists just out of university will be treating serious health conditions like heart disease and asthma within a year, in a move that has been slammed as “madness” by doctors.

Under the Queensland Government’s North Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot, designed to take the pressure off the state’s overwhelmed emergency departments, intern chemists will be taking part in the controversial scheme.

The first 175 community pharmacists are in training for the pilot.

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Nicole Higgins said the intern inclusion should send a shiver down the spine of the Queensland’s politicians.

“It just gets worse and worse,” she said.

“I think many patients would be very worried that a pharmacy intern thinks that they can do the same job as a GP.

RACGP president Dr Nicole Higgins.

“It’s bad enough that this pilot will see pharmacists diagnosing, treating, and prescribing for a host of complex medical conditions outside of a healthcare team completely unsupervised and out of their depth.

“Now we learn that newly registered pharmacists will be rolling up their sleeves and taking part in this pilot.

“So, unless the Government acts to halt this madness we will have these newly registered pharmacists treating health conditions including type 2 diabetes and serious heart conditions.”

Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch spokesman said that the interns would not be involved in the diagnostic process and the public could be assured they will not commence pilot treatments until they are fully registered and regulator safeguards are in place.

“While GP wait times and costs for patients blow out, the powerful medical lobby seems more interested in pharmacists then looking after their own profession’s critical issues or patients,” the spokesman said.

The RACGP chief said this was just the latest in a series of concerning developments.

“GPs undergo a minimum of 10-years training where we learn how to diagnose and treat patients independently. Under the pilot, pharmacists will be playing doctor after taking part in a course equivalent to a few months of training. Then they will be sent on their way to communities across the north of the state to treat patients for conditions that if not managed extremely carefully can have serious consequences.

The Queensland chair of the RACGP’s Bruce Willett said that the pilot was a political move rather than a long-term healthcare fix.

“The news of interns being involved in the pilot is unbelievable,” Dr Willett said.