QUEENSLAND Health is being urged to empower the State's pharmacist and allied health workforce to operate to their full scope of practice to boost patient outcomes, by an expert advisory group.
The Unleashing the potential: an open and equitable health system report sets out a roadmap to reform the system over a two-year timeframe, and advises the Queensland Government on "how best to harness the opportunities arising from the COVID-19 pandemic response to support the best possible health and healthcare for Queenslanders".
The report backed calls for workforce reform to empower health professionals, "particularly nurses and pharmacists", to work to the top of their scope of practice, made by key stakeholders.
"A reduction in red tape and closer alignment between education providers and the health service were noted as key enablers of workforce reform," the authors said.
"Key recommendations included increasing the utilisation of nurses for providing primary care and expanding pharmacist-administered vaccinations and prescribing.
"It is anticipated by stakeholders that this would reduce hospital admissions, improve efficiency and increase access to care."
Pharmacy Guild of Australia Queensland Branch President, Chris Owen, welcomed the report's findings, saying "many of the non-urgent presentations to emergency departments include supply of repeat prescriptions, vaccinations and common ailments like acne, sunburn and muscle cramps -- all of which could easily be dealt with at a local community pharmacy".
"One of the lessons out of the COVID-19 pandemic was that communities wanted to be able to seamlessly engage with multiple primary healthcare providers to receive the best care possible," he said.
"Community pharmacies are a critical part of primary healthcare with consumers visiting, on average, 18 times a year.
"In Queensland alone, we have seen almost 1.2 million COVID-19 vaccinations administered in community pharmacies since Jun 2021.
"Access to vaccines in the local community was crucial to achieving the high vaccination rate we've been able to achieve.
"We welcome the report and are committed to partnering with the Queensland Government to make it a reality."
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