Pharmacists to diagnose and treat serious conditions under trial plan that has enraged doctors

Queensland’s chief health providers are at loggerheads over a plan to allow pharmacists to diagnose and treat serious conditions, with the Pharmacy Guild saying the move would ease stress on emergency departments, but doctors saying some aspects are ‘illegal’.

The state's chief health providers are at loggerheads over the plan to allow pharmacists to diagnose and treat serious conditions, with the Pharmacy Guild saying the move would ease emergency department clog but doctors claiming the plan is “illegal”.

Pharmacists would diagnose and treat 23 serious conditions like heart failure and asthma under the scheme proposed by the Queensland Government. The North Queensland Pharmacy Scope of Practice Trial would be implemented in 37 Local Government Areas.

The pilot would also give the green light for chemists to prescribe the oral contraceptive pill — a move that is outlawed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.

“If community pharmacists and other primary health care professionals could practice to their full scope, then the incidence and management of chronic diseases could be better managed, preventable hospitalisations and non-urgent ED presentations reduced and better health outcomes delivered for Queenslanders,” the Guild’s Queensland president Chris Owen said.

“Some of the ED demand is often for conditions that could have been prevented or better managed within a local primary healthcare setting.”

The Australian Medical Association of Queensland has withdrawn from the steering committee advising on the trial with President Chris Perry concerned about misdiagnosis and the undermining of the management of antimicrobial resistance.

Former AMAQ president, gynaecologist and obstetrician Assos Prof Gino Pecoraro told The Courier-Mail that the pilot proposal to prescribe contraceptive pills was illegal.

“Despite the Therapeutic Goods Administration already making pharmacist prescribing of oral contraceptives outlawed, our government thinks it knows better and wants to allow lesser trained professionals pretend to be GPs or other specialists without the extensive training that doctors must go through. The arrogance displayed by our politicians in ignoring the expert opinion of the TGA is very concerning,” he said.

Asthma, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and middle ear infections are among the conditions the pharmacists would diagnose.

The Guild has emphasised the shortage of primary health providers in regional, rural and remote areas.

“More than 1200 community pharmacies offer safe and easily accessible primary healthcare across Queensland. 234 of those located in rural towns, remote and very remote communities,” he said.

OVERNIGHT: Pharmacists would diagnose and treat serious conditions like heart failure and asthma under a trial proposed by the Queensland Government and the “risky” plan has enraged the state’s doctors.

The North Queensland Pharmacy Scope of Practice Trial would allow chemists in 37 Local Government Areas to diagnose 23 severe conditions, some life threatening, without consulting a GP for a formal examination. The pilot would also give the green light for pharmacists to prescribe the oral contraceptive pill — a move that is outlawed by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).

Federal and state Australian Medical Associations have written to federal authorities with their concerns about the plan and AMAQ has withdrawn from the steering committee advising on the trial.

The AMAQ will also raise concerns at today’s hearing of the Queensland Parliament’s wide-ranging inquiry into the public health system.

“When we wrote our submission to the parliamentary inquiry two months ago, full details about the proposed pharmacy scope of practice trial were not known. As more information about its scope has become clear, AMA members have overwhelmingly told us that they oppose this pilot and do not want it to go ahead in any way, shape or form. It’s fundamentally flawed and will deliver second rate health care to people in North Queensland,” AMAQ President Professor Chris Perry said.

AMAQ Council of General Practice Chair Dr Maria Boulton, who will appear before today’s hearing, said the proposed pilot risked patient health.

“Health care is a team effort, and pharmacists are a vital part of that team. We rely on them every day to ensure patients get the correct medication and advice on how to use their medicines,” Dr Boulton said.

“However, they do not have the medical training to diagnose serious health conditions, which are often masked by symptoms of minor, temporary ailments,” she said.

Asthma, type 2 diabetes, heart failure and middle ear infections are among the conditions the pharmacists would diagnose.

Professor Perry and Federal AMA President Dr Omar Khorshid have written to the TGA head Professor John Skerritt, asking for advice on the trial’s potential impact on the nation’s health system.

“We believe that Australia’s system of regulating medications will be completely undermined if states can unilaterally decide that certain medicines no longer require a prescription,” Professor Perry said.

“We are seriously concerned that this trial will lead to significant misdiagnosis of potentially serious conditions plus undermine attempts to manage antimicrobial resistance,” he said.