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Pharmacy Guild unveils controversial 10-year plan
A key tenet of the Guild’s strategy is to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice – aiming to have 80% of pharmacists prescribing.
Part of the plan is to have 80% of pharmacies delivering care for more than 22 acute and chronic health conditions by 2035.
By 2035, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia wants patients to ‘think pharmacy first’ when it comes to their healthcare needs – an aspiration that has already come under fire.
The controversial goal was made public this week with the release of the Guild’s 10-year strategic plan, Towards 2035, in which the lobby group outlines how its plans for pharmacy to be ‘the first port of call for primary healthcare services’ through the ‘adoption of full scope of practice’ across all jurisdictions.
The strategy features metrics set across four key areas of activity: patient services and innovation; members and practice; thrivability and reform; and influence and reputation.
This includes a plan to have 80% of Australia’s pharmacists qualified to deliver care and prescribe medications for more than 22 acute and chronic health conditions.
The Guild claims its plans are in line with the ‘growing expectations of patients and policy makers’, and that by expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice it will free up GP’s time for more complex care.
‘At a time when frontline services like general practice and hospital emergency departments are under pressure, community pharmacy stands ready to help,’ the plan states.
‘By expanding the scope of practice, pharmacists can play a greater role in supporting continuity of care, reducing system strain, and improving patient outcomes.’
However, RACGP President Dr Michael Wright begs to differ, saying ‘the failure to acknowledge the value of GPs in the health system within the pharmacy roadmap is very disappointing’.
‘Patients deserve the expertise a GP brings, with our training and experience and long associations with patients,’ he told newsGP.
‘That expertise and training shouldn’t be taken for granted or undervalued.
‘The RACGP is already training 90% of the GP workforce – if pharmacists want to work as GPs, they are very welcome to join the training program.’
But the Guild’s Executive Director Gerard Benedet has made it clear that it is committed to executing its plan in full.
‘Success is not optional,’ he said.
‘Towards 2035 is not only a vision. It is a coordinated, measurable, and deliberate plan of action.’
To achieve its expansion goals, the Guild says it foresees the prescribing qualification being embedded into the base-level pharmacy degree over the next few years.
‘Ensuring every new graduate enters the profession with the clinical capabilities to prescribe safely and effectively,’ the plan states.
‘This will encourage new enrolments in pharmacy – whether that be school leavers or individuals making a career change.’
In recent years, several initiatives have been underway across the country to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice.
Queensland has been a leader in the space, with its pharmacy scope of practice and hormonal contraception pilots made permanent earlier this year, allowing trained pharmacists to prescribe and treat a range of acute health conditions as of 1 July.
Similar initiatives are taking place in other states and territories, with WA the latest seeking to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice, under the State Government’s Enhanced Access Community Pharmacy Pilot, which will see participating pharmacists begin training next month to be able to treat 17 conditions.
The Guild’s National President Professor Trent Twomey said its strategic plan, which was shaped with the help of its members, will create ‘healthier communities and a healthier Australia’.
‘It is a future underpinned by the patient-practitioner-practice relationship, and a belief that healthier communities are created when patients are placed at the centre of care, when pharmacists are empowered, and when practices thrive,’ he said.
‘Now is the time to seize the opportunity to do more and expand the services offered in community pharmacies across Australia. And the Guild will be supporting members every step of the way.’
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Pharmacy Guild of Australia pharmacy prescribing primary healthcare scope of practice strategic plan
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