Community pharmacies can ease the strain on hospitals

The latest Productivity Commission report says there were three million “avoidable” hospital presentations last financial year, where people who should have seen a GP went to a hospital emergency department instead.

The report also cites one million Australians putting off seeing a doctor because they can’t afford it.

The National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, George Tambassis, said:

“Community pharmacies are an under-utilised and highly accessible asset in our health system, and we can do more to ease the strain both on hospital emergency departments and on hard-pressed doctors’ surgeries.

“We agree with those doctor groups who are saying that avoidable hospital presentations are an inefficient use of the health system, putting pressure on hospitals and increasing waiting times,” Mr Tambassis said.

“There is no single solution to this problem, but among the solutions is the better use of the full scope of pharmacist practice being facilitated across the 5,700 community pharmacies across Australia.

“Within our existing scope of practice and acting collaboratively with local doctors, community pharmacies can ease the burden on hospitals and doctors, giving them more time to give patients appropriate care,” Mr Tambassis said.

Pharmacists in community pharmacies represent a highly skilled network of primary health care professionals providing quality medicine dispensing, advice and services – including advice on common ailments; vaccinations; medication management; chronic disease support; continued and emergency dispensing; and triage and risk assessment.

Community pharmacies are equitably distributed and highly accessible, and often operate over extended hours - in urban, rural and remote areas.

“We also note the Productivity Commission reference to seven per cent of Australians either delaying or avoiding purchasing medication because of financial pressure. Australia has the finest subsidised medicine scheme in the world in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, but we should be doing everything possible to ensure that people do not fall through the cracks of this great scheme because failure to take medicines as prescribed can lead to more serious health conditions and higher costs for the health system down the track,” Mr Tambassis said.