The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has set some “ambitious” goals for the next decade.
Community pharmacies will be the “first port of call” for primary healthcare services by 2035, if the Pharmacy Guild of Australia gets its way.
The politically powerful employers’ organisation put out its new strategic plan earlier this week, set to guide the profession through the next 10 years.
According to the guild, Australia’s healthcare system works best when multiple professions work in collaboration.
It outlined its vision for where pharmacists, specifically, fit in.
“By helping patients manage everyday health needs, community pharmacies free up GP time for more complex care,” the strategy said.
“This collaboration is essential to a more efficient and effective health system.”
Pharmacy Guild of Australia executive director Gerard Benedet called the new strategy “more than a plan” and said success “is not optional”.
The guild’s goals are broken up across four themes: members and practice; influence and reputation; thrivability and reform; and patient services.
Both the thrivability and patient services pillars partially depend on pharmacists achieving full scope of practice nationwide.
“Our vision is clear: by 2035, 80% of Australia’s community pharmacies will be delivering full scope of practice services,” the guild said.
“This is central to placing the patient at the heart of everything we do in community pharmacy.”
“Delivering care for more than 22 common acute and chronic health conditions means patients can access fast, affordable, and trusted care locally.”
At some point over the next few years, the guild plans to see the prescribing qualification embedded into the base-level pharmacy degree.
One of the strategies under the patient services banner is to have community pharmacy become the “first port of call for primary healthcare services” through the adoption of full scope of practice, while an outcome under the thrivability banner is a stronger role for pharmacists in “the treatment of everyday health conditions and long-term condition management (chronic diseases)”.
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Of course, delivering on the strategy will require some level of coordination with government.
Fortunately for the guild, the government appears to be amenable.
Speaking at the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia conference last week, Assistant Health Minister Emma McBride said the current administration was committed to allowing “all healthcare professionals, including pharmacists, to work to the top of [their] scope of practice”.
“… [T]he Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce Review is now before our government,” Ms McBride, herself a pharmacist, said.
“Pharmacists, our profession, was among the many groups … consulted with, including state and territory governments, peak bodies, other health professionals, regulators, education and training providers, employers, funders, insurers, professional bodies, and consumers.
“It was comprehensive. It was thorough. The review concluded that most, if not all, professionals in primary care face restrictions or barriers to working at full scope – something that each of you would experience day to day in your careers.”
