Exciting times for Aussie pharmacy

COMMUNITY pharmacists in North Queensland will be “the envy of the industry”, with recruitment for the controversial full scope of practice set to start in the coming months, Pharmacy Guild of Australia Queensland Branch President, Chris Owen, believes.

Speaking on the latest episode of the Raven’s Recruitment’s Your Pharmacy Career podcast, Owen said, the Queensland Government was committed to the North Queensland Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot, which will allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense medicines for a number of conditions.

“It’s never been a more exciting time to be involved with community pharmacy,” he said.

“This is an exclusive to community pharmacy [trial], no other pharmacists will be able to practice to full scope, whether it be in Southern Queensland or hospital pharmacy.

“North Queensland community pharmacists will be the envy of the industry.”

Owen said pharmacists in the area from Mackay north to Cape York and across to the Northern Territory border, taking in Mount Isa and Emerald, will be invited to participate in a 12 to 16-month training program in the coming weeks, after which they will be able to work to their full scope.

He added that Australia currently lags behind other OECD nations in authorising pharmacists to work to the full extent of their training, and highlighted Alberta, Canada, as a jurisdiction where pharmacists can provider greater levels of patient care.

“They have autonomous scope of practice for prescribing in their clinical areas where they are experts - whether that be diabetes, hypertension, sexual health - if you’ve got the skills and capabilities to be able to prescribe and dispense in that space, then you should be able to do that,” he said.

“Obviously, we’re just starting the journey to full scope in Australia, so we do have to start somewhere, and the start is the North Queensland full scope of practice trial.”

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