Community
4 May, 2024
Pharmacy trial starts
A NEW pilot expanding health services available through Queensland’s community pharmacies has started with one of the first in Cairns.
Health Minister Shannon Fentiman visited Alive Pharmacy Warehouse in Cairns which is one of the pharmacies participating in the Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot.
Pharmacists are required to complete additional education and training to ensure they are safely able to manage all conditions included in the pilot.
The pilot will expand across the state over the next 12 months as more pharmacists complete the required education and training program and will continue until June 2026.
The pilot enables pharmacists to treat and prescribe medicines for a wide range of health conditions and wellbeing services including nausea and vomiting, reflux, nasal congestion and hay fever, acne, eczema, mild psoriasis flare ups, school sores, shingles, minor wounds, ear infections, mild pain and inflammation, support to quit smoking, hormonal contraception, oral health screening and fluoride application, travel health, management of weight and obesity, heart disease risk reduction (including blood pressure and cholesterol management), improved symptom management for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma.
Ms Fentiman said the government was making it easier for Queenslanders to get the care they needed quicker and closer to home.
But AMA Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton told ABC radio that it was a political election promise that was driving the move towards a dangerous pilot rather than any clinical evidence.
“This pilot will see pharmacists treat and diagnose 17 conditions that are quite complex, and they could be anything from an ear infection through to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Pharmacists are brilliant. The issue is that they are not GPs. They are very different professions,” she said
Alive Pharmacy Warehouse chief pharmacist Demi Pressley, who is based at DFO Cairns, was the first fully qualified prescribing pharmacist in Australia.
“Pharmacists are considered one of the most trusted and accessible health professions and I am proud and excited to have completed all the training required and be able to offer patients in our community a total health solution,” she said.
Alive Pharmacy Warehouse managing director Georgina Twomey said the business was “very excited to be amongst the first pharmacists and pharmacies in Australia to be able to consult and prescribe to our patients”.
