Rural Doctors Association of Queensland are still not backing the proposed pilot program to allow pharmacists to offer healthcare services despite independent research revealing community support for the program.
The Queensland branch of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia commissioned independent research into the proposed North Queensland Full Scope of Practice Pilot, which found support for the pilot was strongest amongst those with dependants (80 per cent) and amongst those with chronic diseases and conditions (79pc).
President Chris Owen said support for the pilot had been mounting for years.
"The need for community pharmacists to work towards their full scope of practice is well understood in the community," Mr. Owen said.
"The pilot will be a step towards bringing Queensland in line with countries like Canada, New Zealand, England and Wales that allow pharmacists to practice to their full scope.
"A clear outcome from the research is that North Queenslanders are demanding better access to primary health care services. They see community pharmacy as a critical part of the solution."
But RDAQ president Dr Michael Reinke said allowing pharmacists to independently prescribe for patients would fragment care and place patients' health at risk.
"Pharmacists are not trained in clinical medicine and the supposed plans for 120 hours of additional training to allow pharmacists to diagnose a range of medical conditions is far from realistic," Dr Reinke said.
"We know from training doctors, even those with a first degree in pharmacy, that it takes many years to be able to safely perform clinical medicine unsupervised.
"Adopting a single prescriber and dispenser of medications creates a conflict of interest where the prescriber stands to benefit from prescription of additional and more profitable drugs to maximise profit."
Mr Owen said the pilot would see community pharmacists able to treat and advise patients for common health conditions, such as pain management, ear, nose and throat conditions, and uncomplicated urinary tract infections.
"To take part in the pilot, pharmacists would first have to undertake further university postgraduate study, supervised for 12-16 months," Mr. Owen said.
"North Queensland patients have been telling us that their healthcare services aren't enough. This research proves they were right.
"When participants were told of the limited nature of the health conditions of the pilot and the additional post-graduate study required, support grew to eighty percent state-wide."
Mr. Owen said support for the pilot was strongest amongst those with dependants and those with chronic diseases and conditions.
However, in a regional setting, the issue is often raised surrounding the difficulty in securing a GP appointment.
Dr Reinke said the shortage of general practitioners in rural areas is related to a range of conditions.
"We know that selecting medical students from a rural area is more likely to result in them settling in a rural area long term," he said.
"We also know that training junior doctors in a rural area produces more rural doctors.
"When living in a rural area, doctors must have a favourable work life balance and their earnings must be equitable with their metropolitan counterparts."
Dr Reinke said there is no silver bullet solutions to the problem.
"It takes years to train a GP and it is nearly impossible to attract GPs' out of the city once they are established in a community," he said.
"Once a spouse is employed and kids are in school, few will move.
"RDAQ is and will continue to advocate for rural doctors and their patients, to improve health outcomes in the bush and build a sustainable workforce in rural and remote areas."
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Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
