GP voice ignored in NSW pharmacist prescribing push

RACGP NSW&ACT has hit back at the State Government over a ‘lack of consultation’ on plans to allow pharmacists to prescribe the contraceptive pill.  
 
Last week, the NSW Government announced that from 1 June, eligible pharmacists who complete additional training will be able to prescribe the contraceptive pill to women over 18, without the requirement for patients to have seen their GP.  
 
However, RACGP NSW&ACT Deputy-Chair Dr James Kelly slammed the State Government for its lack of meaningful consultation with the college about the plan, saying it ‘damages the trust we felt we had with the Government’. 
 
‘Our faculty has put emphasis on maintaining and creating relationships within the NSW Government, and that includes with Health Minister Ryan Park, and one of the things we’re really quite concerned about is the fact that there was no meaningful consultation prior to this announcement,’ he said.  
 
‘There was no attempt at trying to co-design the way this would be implemented. There was no obvious training framework the RACGP could be included in, and it caught us very off guard, and that doesn’t really lend itself to working collaboratively with policymakers and with politicians. 
 
‘We feel like this announcement damages the trust that we felt we had with the State Government, and we’re definitely hoping in the future that we could work collaboratively on any further announcements that are related to pharmacy prescribing.’ 
 
Despite GPs playing a key role in women’s healthcare, and women’s health being part of a person’s overall health, the college believes the voice of doctors has been ignored. 
 
‘We oppose anything that fragments care and prioritises the speed of implementation of pharmacy prescribing over the safety of the public,’ Dr Kelly said. 
 
‘Obviously GPs, and the concerns that GPs and the RACGP have raised, is not being taken into consideration. 
 
‘This is about making sure that any change in policy is going to be safe. Any policy change needs to be in conjunction [with GPs]. We would like to be involved and have a seat at the table to discuss this, and to make sure that any changes are safe.’ 
 
The latest pharmacist pill prescribing initiative in NSW expands on a resupply clinical trial that has been running since September 2023. 
 
However, Dr Kelly said the results of this trial were yet to be released despite this newly announced program going ahead. 
 
‘The NSW Government put forward a pilot study through the University of Newcastle to ascertain the safety of pharmacy prescribing. The results of that study have not been made public, despite requests to the State Government,’ he said. 
 
‘And that is an ongoing disappointment, because it feels as though there is some sort of opacity with regards to pharmacy prescribing from that study.  
 
‘We feel like it would be really important to review the results of that and to implement an evidence-based framework around pharmacy prescribing if it is going to be happening, and we have not been given the opportunity to do that.’ 
 
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New South Wales pharmacy prescribing scope of practice women’s health