Pharmacist-GP rift widens

THERE has been a further escalation in the war of words between pharmacy and doctor groups, with the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners accusing the Pharmacy Guild and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia of “undermining” collaborative efforts to reduce codeine related deaths.

In a statement issued on the weekend the RACGP said lobbying efforts by the Guild and PSA urging governments to implement a solution for emergency codeine supply (W 22 Jun) ran counter to the work of the Nationally Coordinated Codeine Implementation Working Group.

The Guild and the PSA are both members of the body, and the RACGP has called on them to publicly support the TGA’s decision to reschedule codeine-containing medications “or remove themselves from the working group immediately.

“It’s time these pharmacy peak bodies committed to this much needed public safety initiative,” said RACGP president Bastian Seidl.

“The consumption of these medications is currently running out of control, with over 16 million items being sold over the counter in pharmacies every year,” he said.

The working group aims to develop information and resources for GPs, pharmacists and patients in the lead-up to the 01 Feb 2018 rescheduling of codeine.

The Guild responded yesterday, saying it had no intention of pulliing out of the TGA codeine working group because “community pharmacists will be on the front line talking to people when these medicines are up-scheduled”.

The Guild confirmed it would continue to press for a “common sense exception” to allow patients to continue to access the medicines without prescriptions, and also challenged the RACGP to address the issue of doctor shopping.