Pharmacy Daily | Time to scale prescribing: AdPha

AS the Pharmacy Board of Australia prepares to consult on a national endorsement for scheduled medicines, Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) has released a position paper covering pharmacist prescribing across team-based care settings, calling for access to PBS-subsidised medicines to be prioritised in future reforms.

The paper outlined a fit-for-purpose endorsement pathway for pharmacist prescribers across all settings, aimed at preventing workforce fragmentation, improving mobility, and expanding patient access to care.

The peak body has identified four key requirements to ensure endorsed pharmacist prescribers are embedded and enabled to practise to full-scope within team-based care settings:

* A fit-for-purpose endorsement that supports prescribing across all care settings

* A nationally recognised endorsement recorded against registration so pharmacists can prescribe within their scope in team-based environments

* A national framework to validate capability and support practice across an evolving, defined scope

* Ability for endorsed pharmacists to prescribe all medicines within their defined scope, including PBS-subsidised medicines.

AdPha national president Assoc Prof Tom Simpson said it is time to move the discussion beyond a community-only lens, pointing out pharmacist prescribing is already delivering real benefits in hospitals.

"Now it's time to scale that service across the system," he said.

"Expanding prescribing into all team-based settings would unlock significant gains for patients, health professionals and the health system."

Assoc Prof Simpson also emphasised the need for a nationally coordinated approach so that pharmacist prescribing can move beyond "a patchwork of pilot programs", as well as the importance of pharmacists being able to prescribe PBS-subsidised medicines to ensure patient equity.

The position paper is HERE. KB