Professor Trent Twomey, National President Pharmacy Guild of Australia said the move would dramatically increase access to timely healthcare.
“Ensuring patients can access the healthcare they need, when they need it, is crucial in creating healthier communities” said Professor Trent Twomey National President Pharmacy Guild of Australia. “Nurses are highly skilled, and this recognises the importance of all healthcare professionals working to the full extent of their training and experience.”
Recent figures show 28% of Australian’s reported waiting longer than that thought was acceptable* to see a GP. Research reveals 9 in 10 Australians back pharmacists to offer more primary health care services and high trust in nurses and pharmacists to provide health advice and treatment.
“Early intervention by frontline healthcare professionals reduces later complications and takes pressure off other parts of the health system. We need to empower and trust our highly skilled primary healthcare providers.”
Professor Twomey continued “There is more work to do. We need to bring consistency across states and territories and increase public awareness that other primary healthcare providers can treat, diagnose and prescribe where appropriate. In the long term these changes will free up GPs and hospitals to focus on the most acute and complex cases while creating healthier communities, able to access timely and convenient healthcare.”
There are over 6000 community pharmacies in Australia, many are open longer hours. Most Australians live within 2.5km of a community pharmacy and in over 300 towns a community pharmacy is the only frontline healthcare provider.