Community pharmacists are working towards practising to their full scope.

Did you know your local community pharmacist may be able to provide treatment for a variety of health conditions and prescribe your medication?

You can register your interest today or enter your details below to be notified when you may become eligible for the North Queensland Scope of Practice Pilot.

You may already be aware that your local community pharmacist does more than just dispense medication. We’re excited to announce a new pilot program in North Queensland will enable community pharmacists to do even more by bringing more accessible services to the community and helping ease pressure on other areas of the primary healthcare sector.

Community pharmacists are dedicated to delivering better health outcomes for their patients every day, which is just one of the reasons that they’re one of Australia’s most trusted professionals. We’re excited to announce that pharmacists participating in the North Queensland Scope of Practice Pilot, may be able to prescribe, dispense, administer, and review your medicines.

Greater scope = Greater capacity

Participating pharmacists will be able to see patients where and when they need it most– often without an appointment–, at a time when access to timely primary healthcare is getting more and more difficult due to over-crowded Emergency Departments (ED) and over-burdened General Practitioner (GP) clinics. This supports patients receiving treatment for their minor health conditions without having to wait days or weeks to see their GP or presenting at emergency departments. . Pharmacists practicing to their full scope not only supports GPs, giving them greater capacity for appointments and longer consultations with their patients but it also diverts lower urgency cases away from the ED.

As medicines experts, pharmacists are highly competent and well-equipped to provide these types of healthcare services. In addition to their minimum 4 years university education, 1-year structured internship, two registration exams, and on-going continuing professional development (CPD), participating pharmacists will also complete 12-16 months of postgraduate level studies and practical training.

Full scope of practice pharmacists will help provide communities with a convenient and timely means of receiving first-class primary healthcare for common health conditions, such as mild to moderate acne, rhinitis (runny nose), gastro-oesophageal reflux (heartburn), cold sore or travel medicine. This national-first pilot will enable North Queenslanders to access world-class primary care and health services in community pharmacies, like those seen in countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand.

Better outcomes for everyone

On average 97% of metropolitan and 67% of regional area people live within 2.5km of a community pharmacy, making community pharmacies the most accessible primary healthcare destination for Australians. This pilot will specifically enable more people to receive timely access to the healthcare that they otherwise may not have had due to reasons like cost and distance to travel to care, GP accessibility, long waiting time for an appointment , or costs associated with a lack of a bulk-billing GP clinic in their area.

Read on to learn more about the North Queensland Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice Pilot.

Register your interest

Enter your details below to register your interest in participating in or learning more about this Full Scope of Practice Pilot.

By registering, I agree to The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s Privacy Policy & Data Collection Statement.

See what your pharmacist can do for you!

Full Scope Pharmacy Pilot - Mythbusting Facts

Myths

Patients won't get expert care

Facts

Community pharmacists are highly trained with existing skills, knowledge, and competence to provide additional services. Multiple studies have now shown that pharmacist prescribing, as a component of working to full scope, is clinically efficacious and a cost-effective means to improve both access and quality of care..

Myths

Pharmacists practising to their full scope won’t save the government or community money

Facts

$248 MILLION in government and public healthcare savings

Myths

Pharmacists only have 4 years of training

Facts

Pharmacists must complete:

4 years of an accredited university degree
1-year internship in a community pharmacy
2 registration exams
Continuing annual professional development relevant to their scope of practice
Post-Graduate level training over 12-16 months

^*Denotes a pharmacist participating in the Pilot

Pharmacists are medicine experts and primary healthcare professionals whose core objective is to put their patients first. On top of their 4 year university accredited degree, pharmacists complete a 1-year internship in a community pharmacy and undertake further intern study requirements, 2 registration exams, and annual continuous professional development. For those pharmacists participating in the Pilot an additional 12-16 months of post-graduate university study and training is required.

Recent research in North Queensland shows that half of North Queenslanders with chronic medical diseases and conditions often can't see their regular GP, with access problems made even worse by COVID-19. Additionally, 67% of participants in the survey did not regularly visit their GP, with 35% visiting less than every six months. The reason? Often more than a third are waiting over a week for an appointment.

It’s simple. Australians need better access to primary healthcare.

If a patient can receive healthcare in a timely manner by their local community pharmacist, this may prevent them waiting weeks to see their GP or presenting to the emergency department. This will also support GPs by having greater capacity to have appointments (including longer consultations) available to see their patients with more complex needs.

In terms of healthcare costs, the Pilot would mean a reduction in costs as predicted in the 2020 Ernst & Young (EY) report titled ‘Scope of Practice Opportunity Assessment’. The report concluded that by community pharmacists working to their full scope, it would result in:

• $63 million per year in savings in avoided public healthcare costs.

• $176 million per year in savings for State and Federal Governments in avoided costs through better treatment of minor ailments and conditions; and

• $9 million per year for the implementation of better medicine and treatment practices for chronic conditions.

Full scope is not a new concept – it’s been around for decades. As an example, in Canada and the United Kingdom, community pharmacies manage common ambulatory conditions, including ailments such as urinary tract infections, back pain and eczema. In Canada and Scotland, pharmacists’ scope of practice includes prescription renewal and the management of the ongoing supply of prescribed medicines for stable, chronic conditions without the need to unnecessarily returning to the prescriber.

Case study - Wales - The Welsh government's ambition is for every pharmacy in Wales to have an independent prescriber by 2030.

- Aim is to support a ‘community pharmacy first’ model of care, to reduce the number of patients consulting their GP for conditions that can be appropriately managed in the community pharmacy setting.

- Builds on the success of 33 community pharmacies in Wales who have delivered more than 16,000 consultations through independent prescribing (IP) service up until June 2021.

- Agreed conditions include – Herpes Zoster, Otitis Media, COPD exacerbation, respiratory tract infections, impetigo, UTI, Gout, asthma exacerbation, dyspepsia, nausea and vomiting, vertigo.

No - nothing could be further from the truth. Pharmacists work collaboratively with their local GP each and every day. Nothing will replace a GP, but we know ‘Doctor Block’ is a real issues. Recent research in North Queensland revealed that more than a third of vulnerable minorities in North Queensland – including people with a disability, First Nations people and culturally and linguistically diverse people – have had to go to emergency due to lack of general practitioner (GP) access. The Pilot will see a pharmacists' scope of practice remain significantly narrower than both a GP and a nurse practitioner. This Pilot recognises that there are some conditions that could be triaged appropriately in a community pharmacy setting.

“Pharmacists and pharmacy assistants play a pivotal role in primary healthcare. They have the community’s trust and confidence… It’s important that community pharmacies continue to expand on the full scope of services offered as they play such a critical role in our Queensland communities.”

Hon Yvette D’Ath MP,

Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, March 2021

Pharmacy UTI Pilot

In 2018 the Queensland Department of Health endorsed the development of a pilot allowing trained community pharmacists to provide appropriate treatment for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs). Thanks to this pilot, women in Queensland now have access to immediate advice and treatment, including the supply of antibiotics when appropriate, through their local participating community pharmacy.

Resources

Pharmacy Health services

Community health hub

Community pharmacists are working towards practising to their full scope.

Let’s separate fact from fiction.

Greater scope = Greater capacity

Better outcomes for everyone

Register your interest

Enter your details below to register your interest in participating in or learning more about this Full Scope of Practice Pilot.

Thank you for registering your interest, we will keep you up to date on the Pilot.

See what your pharmacist can do for you!

Full Scope Pharmacy Pilot - Mythbusting Facts

Myths

Facts

Myths

Facts

Myths

Facts

Pharmacists don’t have the skills to provide additional services

Full scope services won’t provide patients with better, more timely access to care

The cost savings will be negligible

Full scope is a new concept

Pharmacists are trying to replace GPs

Pharmacy UTI Pilot

Resources