The president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) visited Cairns earlier this week to discuss the North Queensland Full Scope of Practice Pilot.
The proposed pilot program seeks to allow north and north west pharmacists to offer healthcare services to the public including treating and advising patients for health conditions, such as pain management, and ear and throat infections, without GP supervision.
AMA noted the pilot was due to start this month, but said the Queensland government was yet to publicly release any information about the start date and accompanying information regarding the trial.
AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid said the pilot program should not go ahead.
"It is a short-term, short-sighted proposal, which is going to complicate healthcare for rural and regional communities and potentially cause real harm," he said.
"Regional and rural doctors are genuinely concerned about the dangers this poses for their patients, particularly in First Nations communities.
"We have serious concerns over patient safety, the clinical governance of the trial and the conflict of interest between having a pharmacist diagnose and make a profit from selling a product."
Dr Khorshid said the pilot did not have the best interests of patient health.
"This is simply a quick fix that devalues the years of training GPs and other specialists put in before they have the knowledge and experience to properly diagnose and treat a medical condition," he said.
Mackay based GP and representative of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Dr Nicole Higgins said North Queensland had a workforce shortage in the primary care sector.
"My concern is that this pharmacy trial is going to exacerbate that shortage," she said.
"Role substitution is not a workforce solution and what we've seen going through our communities are GP's who are incredibly concerned about what this means for them.
"They are feeling devalued and not recognised for the work that they do.
"At a time when we need to increase the workforce, it is time for this to end."
Dr Higgins was also involved in the general practice training sphere as an educator.
"Doctors spend 10 to 12 years learning how to diagnose, to prescribe and recognise these illnesses and yet our pharmacists will be doing 120 hours of training, which is the equivalent of three weeks," she said.
"Our concern is very much for our patients and very much for our community."
Earlier this year, 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 a clear outcome from the research was the demand for better access to primary health care services.
"They see community pharmacy as a critical part of the solution," he said.
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.
"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."
AMA Queensland president Dr Maria Boulton said the 677,000 people living from Mackay west to the border and north to the Torres Strait deserved the same quality healthcare as other Queenslanders.
"We know from our survey of Queensland doctors in March that rather than fixing workforce issues, this proposal will actively deter doctors from moving to regional areas," she said.
"Pharmacists are experts in medication and we work with them collaboratively every day to ensure the best outcomes for patients, but they do not have the years of training and experience in diagnosis needed to tell the difference between a simple condition and something much more serious.
"It is time to stop this dangerous experiment with the health of Queenslanders."
Zoe Thomas
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
Northern based journalist at North Queensland Register and Queensland Country Life.
