Antony Scholefield PROFESSOR Lisa Nissen ,

suggesting that nurses and pharmacists should receive

Government ’ s pharmacy UTI pilot .

involved in drafting the two issue papers laying out

Professor Mark Cormack , who is being paid $ 464,000 for his

whose work opened the door

GP-level Medicare rebates

Under the $ 1.25 mil-

reform options , which also

work .

for both pharmacy vaccinations and UTI prescribing across Australia , is leading the expert research team behind the Federal Government ’ s controversial Scope of Practice Review .

The review is already

for performing similar work .

For the review , the Federal Government contracted researchers at the University of Queensland ’ s health workforce optimisation team , led by Profes-

lion contract , her research team is tasked with conducting a literature review examining

The scope of practice review is sounding alarm bells .

include the idea of Medicare funding allied health referrals direct to

The original Queensland University of Technology report on pharmacy UTI prescribing , co-authored by Professor Nissen in 2022 , was criticised by doctors for its methodology as well as the positive conclusions it reached

Professor Lisa Nissen .

sounding alarm bells among medical groups , with its recent issues paper

sor Nissen , who two years ago , co-wrote the outcomes report for the Queensland

the risks and benefits of expanded health roles . It has already been

specialists , bypassing GPs . The review is being led by former health official

despite significant limitations on the results collected .

It found that about 95 %

of the 7000 women who had

sought UTI treatment had

received antibiotics .

Seven-day follow-up was

only available for a third

of patients , of whom 87 %

reported that their symptoms

had resolved .

In touting the program ’ s

success , the report pointed

to “ positive feedback about

the service directly from

participants and through

pharmacists ”.

However , it also said only

68 patients had actually

responded to the online survey

asking how satisfied they were

with pharmacist diagnosis and

treatment .

Citing the research , which

was unpublished at the time ,

the Queensland Government

decided to make pharmacy UTI

treatment a permanent part of

the state healthcare system .

It was another six months

after this announcement that

the interim report was published

and then another year

until the final report was

published .

The final report revealed ,

for the first time , that 192

women had been prescribed

antibiotics by pharmacists

even though they should have

been excluded and referred to

a GP because they had a history

of recurrent or relapsing UTIs .

Some 156 of these women

had consulted pharmacists for

UTI treatment twice within six

months , while another 30 of

them received three services

within one year .

Professor Nissen , who

trained as a pharmacist , said

at the time that the level of

incorrect treatment only became evident while compiling

the final report , which

involved 29 months of data

rather than 19 .

Her team maintained that

“ the availability of UTI treatment

by community pharmacists

will increase access to

safe and effective care ”.

However , it also recommended

more safety nets , such

as software that sends red flags

to pharmacists if patients had

recently received antibiotics at

a different pharmacy .

In 2021 , Professor Nissen

received the Pharmacy Guild of

Australia Queensland Branch

President ’ s Award for “ successfully

guiding ” the pharmacy

UTI pilot “ to advance women ’ s

healthcare ”.