Allow pharmacists to treat minor ailments
Shift in strategy would expand access to primary care, Justin Bates says.
Provincial Health Minister Adrian Dix recently stated his top priority is to establish a new network of urgent family care centres to improve access to primary care. The more than 3,100 practicing pharmacists who work in 1,300 pharmacies in communities large and small across B.C. are already making an important contribution to the provincial health-care system, but there is more that they can do to increase access to primary care.
Allowing pharmacists to assess and treat minor ailments in the community where patients live and work will expand access to primary care, reduce pressure on doctors and increase convenience for patients. These common, or minor ailments do not require lab or blood tests for diagnosis are usually shortterm, self-limiting conditions that can be managed with minimal treatment or self-care. They include conditions such as headaches, back pain, insect bites, diaper rash, heartburn or indigestion and nasal congestion.
B.C. pharmacists already have the expertise to assess and treat these conditions. Allowing pharmacists to utilize this training would divert people from emergency rooms, reduce pressure on doctor’s offices, improve rural access to primary care, and result in convenience for busy families. It would also generate savings of more than $32 million annually, according to a 2013 study by the B.C. Pharmacy Association.
As trusted health providers, pharmacists in B.C. have already been granted additional authority in recent years to better use their full range of knowledge and skills to help alleviate access pressure in the primary care system. Their role goes beyond dispensing medication into newer services such as medication reviews adapting and renewing prescriptions, and administering injections.
But B.C. lags behind other western provinces in the number of expanded scope of practice services pharmacists are allowed to perform and behind all provinces except New Brunswick and Manitoba in the number of pharmacist services funded by government.
How would this work? Your pharmacist would have a detailed discussion with you to assess your ailment including your symptoms and their duration, what other medical conditions you have, and what medications you already take. The pharmacist may make a recommendation for an over-the-counter medication or a prescription medication, or may even determine that no treatment is required. If the pharmacist believes your condition requires more investigation, he or she would refer you to your physician.
This solution would build on the existing cost efficiencies realized by neighbourhood pharmacies. Currently, they help save the Canadian health-care system more than $12.5 billion annually by preventing adverse drug reactions, operating an efficient supply chain and providing innovative drug therapies and lower-cost generic drugs.
Pharmacy is more than ready and willing to take the next step to help ensure that every British Columbian has the opportunity to receive timely, expert advice and treatment for common ailments from pharmacists.