Comments from the guild have sparked debate on how the pharmacist-led prescribing initiative should be regulated.
The RACGP is still pushing for effective clinical guardrails when it comes to Western Australia’s new pharmacist prescribing scheme, the Enhanced Access Community Pharmacy Pilot (EACPP).
Concerns have reignited after the WA government announced last week that an additional 40 pharmacists would begin training to diagnose and treat patients for “a range of simple health conditions”.
$1.26 million has been invested thus far to subsidise the training cost for the pharmacists with 50 “mostly rural and regional-based” pharmacists already undergoing said training, according to the WA government.
This brings the total to 90 pharmacists, with 34 located in rural and regional WA.
The state government said the allocations were targeted at areas with shortages of GP services.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia has claimed that the RACGP’s criticisms of the pilot have been contradictory thus far.
“The RACGP’s most recent comments are in contradiction to their unwillingness to participate in the process to develop the EACPP’s protocols,” a guild spokesperson said.
“This is the same organisation that elected to withdraw from the committee established by the Western Australian Department of Health specifically to develop the safety and quality protocols for the EACPP.”
“They declined the opportunity to influence the EACPP when they had the opportunity, and further, their comments show a lack of consideration and respect for the knowledge and expertise of the people that are involved.”
The RACGP has clarified its reasoning for leaving the EACPP working group, saying that it was going unheard in the consultation process.
“We felt it was a tick box activity and our feedback was not received with due diligence, and felt that our position for delivering quality care wasn’t received wholeheartedly,” RACGP vice president and WA chair Dr Ramya Raman told The Medical Republic.
“We’re actually guided by quality care and not convenience, and so we felt it wasn’t received wholeheartedly, and therefore we left the working group.”
Fragmentation of care has been the RACGP’s number one concern with the pilot, which the guild has responded to by saying that “you cannot fragment care where it does not exist”.
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The guild cited the RACGP Health of the Nation report that showed that WA had the lowest rate of GPs per capita. But Dr Raman said it was a misleading use of the information.
“I might also just highlight the AVS data, which was from 2024/25. It shows that about 65% of patients are able to see their preferred GP when they’ve needed to,” Dr Raman told TMR.
“The Health of the Nation Report… showed that 99% of patients are able to see a GP when they’ve needed to as well.
“The per capita number in relation to the number of GPs in Western Australia; it’s not unknown. It’s about what the next step of the solution is as well.”
Per the RACGP, WA has recently seen the highest intake of GP trainees in the state’s history, with 130 of the 250 total going into rural pathways.
“I would dispute the fragmentation comment. We know that continuity of care improves health outcomes for patients,” Dr Raman said to TMR.
“We’ve been calling for an evidence-based approach and a robust clinical governance, and it’s not particularly clear.”
Dr Raman also cited the recent AURA report on antimicrobial resistance warning that an increase in the dispensing of antibiotics could lead to further community antimicrobial resistance.
“The more prescribers that are there, the higher the risk for patients and the outcomes of antimicrobial resistance,” Dr Raman told TMR.
“This is actually quite a critical and an important concern that is not even about to come, but it has already come.
“It just means that, ultimately, common antibiotic uses, like amoxicillin, caplex and trimethoprim, they’re not going to be useful for our patients with any of these conditions.”
