A recent South Australian election debate has sparked outrage from the pharmacy guild but had the opposite effect on GPs.
A pre-election debate between South Australia’s two major parties has spawned multiple smaller disputes within the healthcare sector, as the opposition flags limits to pharmacist prescribing scope.
Last week, Labor health minister Chris Picton showed down shadow health minister Heidi Girolamo at an AMA SA-run debate ahead of the state election in March.
A highlight of this debate was the disagreement between the two major parties over how pharmacy scope of practice should be managed.
The opposition’s current approach on pharmacy scope expansion was not aligned with Labor’s plans to expand, with Ms Girolamo arguing in favour of continuity of care.
“We want to make sure people can access a GP to make sure patients receive that continuity of care,” she said.
This stance was met with backlash from the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which described the minister’s comments as “shockingly misinformed and frankly backwards”.
“The South Australian Liberals are not serious about increasing access to world-class health services if they reject community pharmacists working to their full scope of practice,” Pharmacy Guild of Australia national executive director Gerard Benedet said, according to the Australian Journal of Pharmacy.
“I never thought I’d see a shadow health minister willingly seek to remove women’s access to the diagnosis and treatment of uncomplicated [urinary tract infections].”
AMA South Australia has dismissed this claim, arguing that UTI treatment can still be accessed through GPs and that the opposition’s stance is not indicative of an attempt to limit UTI treatment accessibility.
“The reason you’re expanding the scope of pharmacy to treat medical conditions is because you don’t have enough GPs, so that was a different approach than what the [current] government has taken,” AMA SA president Associate Professor Peter Subramaniam told The Medical Republic.
“The evidence for the UTI prescribing, we haven’t actually seen that for South Australia.
“I don’t think anyone is at all thinking about withdrawing access to Australia’s women getting UTIs treated.”
The AMA SA also noted that no state bar Queensland has released data and evaluation reports on pharmacist-led prescribing pilots.
When questioned by AMA SA, Mr Picton did not give a direct answer.
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“We actually think pharmacists are very integral part of the healthcare universe, but it’s an integrated universe,” Professor Subramaniam told TMR.
“The other thing I asked them both was, what was this risk framework that they had employed to ensure that there’s a risk framework and clinical governance.
“I didn’t quite get an answer to that, so we’re seeking details.”
The RACGP endorsed the shadow minister’s position on pharmacist-led prescribing.
“Australians consistently tell us they trust their GPs, and they do not want retail environments replacing the comprehensive, relationship-based care that general practice delivers,” RACGP SA chair Dr Sian Goodson said.
“Recent data shows that 99% of patients can access their GP when required.
“When trials shift decision making into commercial environments, they risk putting business considerations ahead of patient needs, and that creates unacceptable conflicts of interest in healthcare.
“Most pharmacy trials conducted to date have not met accepted clinical trial standards, which understandably raises questions about their safety, validity, and the reliability of their findings.”
