THE first issues paper from the Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce Scope of Practice Review has been released and recognises the existing barriers that prevent professionals, including pharmacists, from practising to their full and top scope.
Known also as the Cormack Review, the paper highlights both the urgent and the long-term need for pharmacists to contribute to improving access to care and medicine safety through working to their expanded scope.
PSA National President A/Prof Fei Sim commented the Cormack Review's first issues paper confirmed that "inconsistent regulations, unnecessary restrictions on practice, and siloed workforces are having a detrimental impact on patients".
"As pharmacists, we welcome the paper as the first step in the review process, however, we need to look now towards solutions."
The PSA added it saw a future where community pharmacies were supported and funded to fulfil their primary care role as urgent care clinics where pharmacists can triage, manage and consult on a range of acute common ailments.
This included the ability to prescribe PBS medicines, harnessing the accessibility of pharmacists to deliver timely, cost-effective care, and reducing patients' out-of-pocket costs.
Sim, who currently sits on the Cormack Review's Expert Advisory Committee representing the pharmacy profession said, "we see a future where pharmacists are embedded in multidisciplinary healthcare teams wherever medicines are prescribed, supplied, administered or reviewed, and where pharmacists are utilised to support patients in managing chronic health conditions, whether that is a medicine or a referral to another healthcare provider".
"To achieve these aims, regulatory, financial and systems barriers must be recognised and removed, and only until then, we can see the full potential of pharmacists unleashed."
Last year, the Dept of Health stated that extensive stakeholder consultation and engagement would inform the review, with findings provided to the Australian Govt in the latter half of 2024. JG
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