Pharmacy Daily | Continuity key to rural pharmacy

THE Remote and Isolated Pharmacist Association Australia (RIPAA) has warned that the clinical models being promoted by national pharmacy bodies are structurally unsuited for Australia's most remote communities, proposing instead a model with embedded pharmacists at its core.

The group cautiously welcomed the development of pharmacist prescribing models - such as the women's health pilot announced a few days ago (PD 16 Mar) - which improve access for patients, particularly in underserved areas.

However, RIPAA has raised concerns about the extent to which pharmacist full scope of practice, and other expanded models of pharmacy care, such as Home Medicines Reviews and the Aged Care Onsite Pharmacist program, can be viably and feasibly delivered in remote and isolated communities.

It argued that the funding structures behind these initiatives are built for the high-volume environment of the city, and are economically unviable in Modified Monash (MM) 5-7 zones.

"We are seeing sophisticated clinical models promoted nationally, but they are structurally unsuited for Australia's small and remote towns," said RIPPA president Fredrik Hellqvist.

"These programs rely on a certain level of volume and access to workforce to make them viable to deliver - in remote and isolated areas that volume and workforce does not exist."

RIPAA has put forward a vision for remote sustainability, which involves moving away from "fragile transactional funding" to ensure a stable economic base for practitioners in thin markets and securing the clinical residency required to make expanded clinical care programs viable long term.

"It's time to stop pretending that what works in a major city suburb will work in a small remote town," Hellqvist said.

"We need clinical continuity, not clinical pharmacy deserts.

"Our proposal offers a different path forward - one that ensures rural pharmacists aren't just 'visiting' but are embedded in their communities," he concluded. KB