Pharmacy trial of skin care drugs in NSW deemed successful, but medical field divided on practice

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Pharmacies trialling skin care drugs for some conditions in New South Wales say it’s been a successful experiment, although not everyone in the medical field is sold on the practice. The state government says almost 1,500 people have benefited from the trial, relieving pressure on doctors. Myles Houlbrook-Walk reports.

Transcript

00:00It's dealt with a series of dermatological conditions including shingles, psoriasis as

00:08well as school sores and mild to moderate eczema.

00:12Now in this instance here we saw pharmacists able to diagnose and indeed prescribe medications

00:19for these conditions and it was in this instance that they could do this instead of GPs.

00:24Now the reason the government initiated this program in New South Wales was because of

00:29the stresses and strains on the GP system which is largely looked at by the Federal

00:33Government however the State Government not being able to necessarily increase the number

00:37of GPs took other action to actually try to improve those rather ease stresses and strain

00:44on it and so far the Health Minister Ryan Park says not only has it been successful

00:49but he's also interested in seeing it exist thereafter the trials soon to be finished

00:55out in February.

00:57We think there's an opportunity not just with pharmacists but health professionals

01:01more broadly to continue to work at the top of their scope wherever possible.

01:06We know that across New South Wales we're no different to the rest of Australia and

01:10the globe.

01:11There are critical health care worker and health care professional shortages right now.

01:17That means that part of the work that we do and the reform that we need to undertake is

01:22making sure that our health care professionals whether they're pharmacists, whether they're

01:26whether they're nurses or nurse practitioners are working wherever possible at their full

01:31scope and providing those services to the community in a way in which they're trained

01:35to deliver.

01:36Now Miles there have been some reservations about these sorts of trials can you tell us

01:40a bit about these concerns?

01:44Yeah they come from largely groups representing GPs and perhaps that's unsurprising because

01:49it's GPs who miss out on the consultation opportunities and then providing scripts to

01:54pharmacists.

01:55So we've seen the Royal College of GPs in Australia as well as the Australian Medical

01:59Association both raise concerns that not only will this occur that you'll see businesses

02:06lost to GPs but also crucially what they argue about is the medical risks in that it could

02:12exacerbate conditions, it could be either misdiagnosed or as an alternate you could

02:17see situations where pharmacists are perhaps out of their depth in terms of dealing with

02:21these conditions.

02:22Now the Chief Health Officer in New South Wales, Dr Kerry Chant, she takes quite a different

02:26view and thinks the balance has been a cautious one, they've struck the right balance when

02:31using it both on these skin care treatments but also looking at things such as UTIs where

02:38we've seen pharmacists now able to diagnose and then prescribe antibiotics.

02:42She thinks they've struck the right balance.

02:45I acknowledge the important skills that pharmacists have and what the trials have done is tried

02:50to evaluate whether this is reasonably within the scope of practice of pharmacists.

02:55We've taken a very thorough approach in New South Wales through a clinical trials framework

03:01but we're also learning from information generated by other states and territories

03:05who have similarly rolled out this.

03:12So it's also worth noting Gemma that there could well be an expansion of these services,

03:17the government not only interested in potentially keeping the skin care and treatment of those

03:22skin conditions as a possibility for pharmacists but also other conditions including ear infections

03:27and certain gastro-type diseases as well which they classify as fairly common and also that

03:34they argue there are instances in which people go to pharmacists anyway to pick up medication

03:39and ask for medical opinions of pharmacists anyway so they say that it would be a more

03:44formalised process, it would require more cautions and precautions to be taken as well

03:49as using this trial data to better inform whether or not it's actually been effective.

03:54Now finally it is worth considering overall if this is the case, this really is one of

03:59the few means in which the New South Wales government can ease pressure on the public

04:02health system in terms of demand for GPs however while these consultations are free at the

04:08moment should these trials become permanent it's likely that pharmacists and depending

04:13on each pharmacy themselves would actually be charging people a consultation fee for

04:18these services as well when they diagnose and then subsequently prescribe medications.

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