Pharmacy prescribing and patient risk
AMA SA Council is continuing to advocate for patient safety and to minimise risk in the expanded program of pharmacy prescribing.
In South Australia and across the country, the AMA (including Federal leadership, AMA SA Council and CGP) continues to highlight to government, the media and patients the potential risks of expanded pharmacy prescribing. At the AMA SA Council meeting on 30 July, Council approved a position paper and recommendations that include asking South Australia’s Minister for Health and Wellbeing for clear and rigorous reporting and evaluation of pharmacy prescribing medication for UTIs, which has been underway now for more than two years.
Development of the AMA SA position paper closely followed the release of the Grattan Institute report ‘Future pharmacy: A better deal for patients and taxpayers’ that, as the Federal AMA commented, ‘unveiled the smoke and mirrors when it comes to pharmacy agreements and was a welcome reminder of the need for reform’.
As the AMA SA paper notes, the South Australian Government should ‘fund what is proven, trial what is promising through rigorous national evaluation, and publish the results’.
‘Until South Australia's expansion meets that standard, further extension of pharmacist prescribing scope remains premature and has the potential for increasing patient and population risk,’ it concludes.
