MOVES to give pharmacists prescribing rights will compromise patient safety, a former pharmacists turned GP claims.
Hervey Bay GP, Dr Nick Yim, expressed concerns about the Queensland Government's decision to approve a trial of pharmacist prescribing, in an article published in MJA Insight.
"As a GP who has worked on both sides of the pharmacy counter, it is something I am very concerned about," he said.
"Before I became a GP, I completed a four-year Bachelor of Pharmacy and worked as a community pharmacist...I then completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (four years), residency (two years) and Fellowship training three years)."
When a patient presents with symptoms of a urinary tract infection, Yim says his 13 years of training and experience help him "to consider that there may be an alternative diagnosis and to ensure there is appropriate management of the condition, followed by adequate health screening and safety netting.
"There are too many unseen risks and potentially higher costs [if pharmacists prescribe]," he said.
The publication of Dr Yim's article followed the passage of a motion at the Australian Medical Association's national conference in Brisbane on Sat, after of doctors voiced their disapproval of "Pharmacy Guild tactics" in promoting pharmacist prescribing and the administering of paediatric vaccinations.
Proposing the motion, Dr Bavahuna Manoharan, called for an immediate end to the Queensland prescribing trial and a reversal of Tasmania's decision to allow pharmacists to provide flu jabs to children aged 10 and older.
In a statement the AMA said that "following contributions from the floor, all in favour of the motion, that went to issues of privacy, evidence-based medicine, incorrect prescribing, and Pharmacy Guild tactics, it was passed easily".
Responding to the AMA's motion, Guild Victorian Branch President, Anthony Tassone said the association should "immediately cease from scaremongering the public and trying to deter fellow health professionals from practicing their full scope and instead collaborate for patient benefit", in a post on Twitter.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 28 May 19
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