PSA hands NSW gov Budget wish list

POLITICIANS in NSW are being urged to support the expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice to bolster public health outcomes.

In its pre-Budget submission, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) NSW Branch called for pharmacists in the state to be allowed to provide a broader range of vaccinations and for pharmacists to be allowed to administer influenza vaccinations to children aged 10 and older.

NSW Branch President, Professor Peter Carroll, said cutting the age barrier to pharmacist-administered flu vaccinations could boost immunisation rates.

“Children are particularly susceptible to the flu, yet studies suggest less than a third are being immunised each flu season,” he said.

“Parents can face hurdles to accessing a GP and getting their child vaccinated, so we must do more to increase uptake of this vital health intervention.

“Most Australians visit their pharmacist around 14 times a year... this high level of accessibility, combined with the trust consumers have in the profession, will encourage more people to get immunised.”

With an expanded range of vaccines, Carroll said pharmacists could help boost immunisation rates and ease pressure of GP clinics and hospital emergency departments.

The PSA also called on the State Government to allocate funding to support pharmacist management of “non-urgent or low urgency medical conditions” and triage services to support better use of health care resources in NSW.

“More than 10% of emergency department presentations in NSW are considered non-urgent, [and] 70% of these presentations occur during the typical business hours of a community pharmacy,” Carroll said.

“Pharmacists have the skills and training to perform these functions safely and effectively.

We estimate up to 331,233 thousand emergency department services in NSW are transferrable to community pharmacy, which would save the health system between $131m and $439m a year.”

The PSA urged politicians to act on repeated calls from coroners to introduce a mandatory real-time prescription monitoring system to combat pharmacist and doctor shopping.

“Deaths from prescription medicines have outpaced deaths from illicit drugs,” he said.

“There is no real-time monitoring of prescription products in general practices and community pharmacies in NSW, therefore there is no way of identifying and helping those people who may be doctor shopping to obtain multiple prescriptions or require referral to support pathways.”

Carroll also praised the State Government’s proactive steps in issuing emergency dispensing orders to allow pharmacists to support patients.