42
Q
O
Dec
2018
Q&A
Opinions
We must contribute to primary care
Pharmacists should
be empowered to
assist in areas where
they’re needed the
most — that includes
GP practices.
Shane Jackson
National President,
Pharmaceutical
Society of Australia
I
WRITE this editorial in
response to concerns the Small
Pharmacies Group raised about
the PSA’s support for pharmacists
working in GP practices. The
challenges that affect rural and
small pharmacies are unique, and
I acknowledge and understand
them. Two of my pharmacies
are located in rural areas of
Tasmania, and I cut my teeth
over the last 14 years in a small
town called Nubeena. My belief is
that we must drive the pharmacy
profession forward, including
community pharmacy. A rising
tide lifts all ships.
It is not surprising at a time
of such pressures on community
pharmacy that innovation in
the role of pharmacists can be
seen as a threat rather than as a
profession-wide opportunity. That
opportunity is for pharmacists
to have a higher level of
responsibility and accountability
for medicines management.
PSA believes in and actively
advocates for a more significant
role for community pharmacy
as a vital platform for primary
healthcare delivery. We have
advocated for expanded
vaccinations, funded minor
illness programs and expanded
medication review programs. We
have said that we need greater
investment in consultations to
be able to recognise the role that
community pharmacists have in
improving medicines management.
Community pharmacy is a vital
part of our primary healthcare
system, and advancements in the
role of pharmacists will enhance the
role of community pharmacy. The
system needs to change to allow
this. Our regulatory, policy and
funding frameworks need to give
more responsibility to pharmacists
across all of healthcare.
We should be the custodians
of medication safety. No other
health professional group is as
well equipped as the pharmacy
profession to greatly improve
the outcomes of medication use
in Australia. As outlined in our
Pharmacists in 2023 paper,
pharmacists should be embedded
wherever a medicine is used.
PSA has always maintained
that the majority of activities of a
pharmacist working within general
practice should be focused on the
system level of the general practice.
I have stated this publicly many
times and made this point in our
meetings with the government and
the Department of Health. We have
the following primary objectives
that we are trying to achieve in
embedding pharmacists within
general practice as they relate to
community pharmacy:
• Improve the quality use of
medicines to improve health
outcomes for patients.
• Focus the embedded pharmacist
on clinical governance and
education and training.
• Improve the co-ordination of
care for the patient by engaging
and involving the patient’s
community pharmacy.
• Develop capacity within
community pharmacy to be able
to provide services to general
practice.
• Provide the opportunity through
structured services to enable the
patient’s community pharmacy
to take responsibility and
accountability for medicines
management.
• Minimise duplication (focus
on integration) with services
delivered in general practice and
community pharmacy.
The opportunity for a
pharmacist located within a
general practice is to improve the
decision-making regarding the
use of medicines across the system
level of the general practice. This
is not about duplication of the
services that are provided within
community pharmacy, but a
way of complementing them and
improving outcomes. This should
not be a competitive program, but a
complementary program.
PSA believes there should
be an allocation of 0.1-0.2FTE
pharmacist per 1FTE GP. Any
suggestion that a pharmacist is
going to be able to perform all
of the activities of a community
pharmacist within this time
allocation is just not realistic.
PSA is focused on community
pharmacy sustainability and
service enhancement. We also want
pharmacists to improve medicines
decision-making in general practice
and other settings. Community
pharmacy should be in a position to
provide these services, but this will
not be the case across the board.
We will push the case for capacity-
building grants to be provided to
community pharmacy to be better
integrated with general practice.
I have invited the Small
Pharmacies Group to join us
in Canberra and look forward
to sharing thoughts on how we
can better support and advocate
for this section of community
pharmacy.