Pharmacist triaging fears unfounded

SUGGESTIONS that funding a campaign to direct patients with non-urgent conditions to pharmacies to be triaged rather than Emergency Departments, would be cutting into the role of GPs, is unfounded, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) NSW Branch President, Chelsea Felkai, believes.

Responding to criticism of the PSA’s 2021/22 NSW Pre-Budget Submission from the Royal Australian College of General Practice (RACGP) NSW and ACT Faculty Chair, Associate Professor Charlotte Hespe, Felkai told Pharmacy Daily that the policy was likely to lead to more patients being directed to their GP for treatment than to hospitals.

Speaking with the RACGP’s NewsGP publication, Hespe suggested the program would see pharmacists taking on unnecessary risks.

“Why on earth would you take on all the risks of being the GP triaging?” she said.

“Do they not understand all the actual clinical risks of that sort of work?

“That assessment of a basic headache is not just saying, ‘go and take a couple of Panadol?’”

However, Felkai noted that “minor ailments are managed in community pharmacy everyday”.

“I’ve never been to an Emergency Department where I was triaged by a GP,” she said.

“Not all of these conditions are complex clinical conditions and pharmacists are trained to recognise when a patient needs referral for more complex clinical conditions.

“Triaging for minor conditions in the primary care setting would reduce a heavy burden that falls on the emergency department, and would see more patients attend their GPs through referrals by their pharmacist.

“The policy takes into consideration all areas of NSW, where patients may need to travel a significant distance to the nearest hospital and emergency department or where they may not be able to access a GP.

“We very much see this as a collaboration with all primary care providers.

“Pharmacists and GPs should absolutely collaborate to ensure patients receive the right level of care at the right time and the right cost.

“This proposal highlights a role that pharmacists are already doing, including consulting with and referring patients to their GP when necessary.”