Pharmacists across Australia are retraining to help fill the gap to treat some medical conditions, as patients struggle for GP appointments.
Data released by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia found about 40 per cent of Australians waited unacceptable periods of time to see their doctor for an appointment.
Data showed 1 in 10 people waited almost a month to get an appointment with their general practitioner, with that number doubling for people living in regional areas.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Trent Twomey said in the 1990s one in two medical graduates chose general practice as their specialty, but that was no longer the case.
“We are simply not producing enough GPs to staff Australian medical practices, and that is a real shame,” he said.
Mr Twomey said governments across Australia looked at reforms in other countries such as the UK, Canada and New Zealand to see what pharmacists could do in those jurisdictions to help ease the burden on health care.
He said premiers and chief ministers in all states and territories except Victoria had agreed to retrain their pharmacists so they could provide more services through pharmacies.
Pharmacists in some jurisdictions of Australia are already being retrained at university to treat medical conditions and prescribe medications to patients for more than 20 medical conditions, which will take about 12 to 18 months to complete.
“Queensland and the Northern Territory are leading the way with the services that are available, but the other jurisdictions have made commitments to roll those out over the coming years,” Mr Twomey said.
“The training is nationally accredited by the Pharmacy Board of Australia, and it is being rolled out at several universities in Queensland, and there’s now agreements to start rolling those out with other universities around Australia.”
Mr Twomey said pharmacists would soon be able to treat patients for things like contraception, respiratory conditions, urinary tract infections, vaccines, cardiovascular conditions, wounds, gastro, pain and more.
“Firstly, there is the convenience, there are 6000 access points, half of which are open after 6pm at night and on weekends when GPs are not open,” he said.
“There’s also the nature of community pharmacies, where 20 per cent of them are in regional, rural and remote locations, there are 400 towns and localities in Australia where there’s a pharmacy but no general practice.”
One of the services pharmacists will be able to provide once they are retrained is initiating contraception so women will no longer need to visit a GP to have their script renewed.
“We will be able to initiate hormonal contraception, so if you are a woman who is overusing emergency contraception, or using the morning after pill as your primary choice for contraception, then we can initiate you on the pill,” Mr Twomey said.
“Or if you are a woman who, unfortunately, the pill is causing you an acne breakout or breakthrough bleeding, then we can swap you to another one.
“To be honest, it took a state that had a female premier with a majority female cabinet and female health minister for this to happen.
“Yeah, I think that’s a coincidence.”
Federal Health Minister Mark Butler said the government commissioned the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce Review to review barriers and incentives for all health professionals – including pharmacists – to work to their full scope of practice.
He said this would optimise use of the health workforce across a stretched primary care sector and improve patient access particularly in rural and remote areas.
“After a decade of cuts and neglect to Medicare by the Liberals, it had never been harder to see a GP,” he said.
“The pressure on general practice began when Peter Dutton was Health Minister and he tried to do away with bulk billing by introducing a fee on every single visit to the GP, and then started a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates.
“That’s why the Albanese government has made the largest investments in Medicare in decades.”
The health minister said data showed there has been more than four million additional bulk billed visits since the Albanese government tripled the bulk billing incentive.
“In just two years, the Albanese government has increased Medicare rebates by twice as much as the former government did in nine years,” he said.
“It’s going to take time to strengthen Medicare after it was cut by the Liberals but through our government’s investments in bulk billing we are starting to see the green shots of recovery.”
The AMA and Victoria Health have been contacted for comment.
