Pharmacist shortage limits access to drugs
A Northland pharmacist is warning that online services are not necessarily the magic pill to fix sinking numbers of actual pharmacies in the region.
Figures show there are only about 5 pharmacists for every 10,000 people in Northland.
With fewer people wanting to work in rural areas, the number of pharmacists is declining faster than in big, urban areas such as Auckland – which is actually seeing an increase in pharmacists. However, Health New Zealand’s Martin Hefford said one in four people lived in rural areas and limited healthcare services were a barrier.
Hefford said online ordering of medication provided a part solution. “Prescriptions and medication are delivered in a variety of ways across the country. Pharmacies in some regions may offer tele-health services and provide additional rural pharmacy funding for pharmacy depots,” he said.
Online services such as Pill drop and Zoom have their own pharmacists, who can provide video and phone consultations. General practitioners digitally send prescriptions straight to these delivery companies.
But Northland pharmacist Lanny Wong said although the online services had pharmacists on duty, there might be limitations such as internet access and connections in rural areas.
“They are great initiatives. It increases access to medicine for people but they need to keep in mind that sometimes there is a delay, and as we saw with the cyclone and flooding, access does get blocked.”
Wong has been a practising pharmacist for 17 years and owns Mangawhai Pharmacy, which sees around 250 people every day. She said the more isolated the rural pharmacy, the more widespread the population it services.
“When it comes to health, people still like that personal contact. However, I think that people will use online services.
Your local pharmacies often do provide phone or video consultation.”
Hefford said Health NZ was also working on a new initiative that might help to address the shortage of rural pharmacists. In order to attract more graduates to work in rural pharmacies, Health New Zealand has recently established a new category for graduate pharmacists within the existing voluntary bonding scheme to work outside the main six urban centres. Last year, Pharmacy Council Workforce Demographic Report showed that between 2022 and 2023 there was only a small increase of 25 pharmacists (0.6%).
New Zealand averages 7.93 pharmacists per 10,000 people. “This is really low compared to Australia which is 10.44, Canada is 10.5 and Ireland is 13.68.”
The report shows there are more pharmacists per capita in the larger cities. Auckland had increased to 9 (pharmacists per 10,000), but Waikato has gone down to 5.99 down from 6.1, Northland has reduced to 5.89 from 6.5 and Gisborne to 5.89 from 6.6.
“You can see an increase in the main centres but a decrease in the regions,” Wong said. “It would be nice if the regions could hit the average of 7.93.”