Australian Medical Association Tasmania slams calls for pharmacists to treat patients

Calls for pharmacists to treat patients to ease Tasmania’s “strained” health system have been slammed by the Australian Medical Association.

Latrobe Pharmacist John Dowling

PHARMACISTS should be authorised to treat common health conditions to help ease Tasmania’s “strained” health system, the state’s pharmacy guild says.

But the calls by Tasmanian Pharmacy Guild president John Dowling have been met with criticism by the Australian Medical Association Tasmania branch, which says the move would fragment healthcare in the state.

Latrobe Pharmacist John Dowling.

Mr Dowling said Tasmanian pharmacists should be better utilised to “practice their full potential” by administering practices like giving more vaccines, issuing repeat prescriptions and treating common ailments like asthma and migraine.

It follows comments by Labor’s David O’Byrne last week questioning how the state’s health system would cope with further coronavirus outbreaks.

“With a health system already under strain and with an expected shortage of 1,700 GPs over the next decade, making better use of pharmacists is a commonsense reform,” Mr Dowling said.

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A recently-released Australian Institute of Health and Welfare patient experiences survey showed about half of Tasmanian patients in 2017-18 waited four or more hours to see a general practitioner after making an appointment — 12 per cent higher than the national average.

It also showed Tasmania recorded the highest percentage of Australians — 7.5 per cent — who did not see a GP due to cost.

“Tasmanians are waiting longer and paying more to see a doctor than almost every other state and territory. We need to make better use of pharmacists to treat common ailments to make healthcare more accessible and more affordable,” Mr Dowling said.

It comes as Queensland this week announced that community pharmacists will trial providing medication for urinary tract infections without a prescription.

AMA president John Burgess said allowing pharmacists to treat patients would remove the opportunity for Tasmania’s healthcare to be tied together in “a central manner”.

John Burgess.

“The AMA does not support calls for pharmacists to treat patients. Pharmacists are highly skilled and trained to do what is within their scope of practice so it makes little sense to dilute the focus away from their core skill-set,” he said.

“We would encourage government to work with general practices in the delivery of immunisation programs rather than working in a way that fragments healthcare and sidelines general practitioners from their area of focus.”

Health Minister Sarah Courtney the State Government continued to explore how to best deliver healthcare in Tasmania.

“The Government introduced pharmacy vaccinations for the first time several years ago, and it continues to work closely with GPs, pharmacists and all health care providers to ensure Tasmanians have access to the health services they need,” she said.