Drug wars: Doctors call for halt on new pharmacist prescribing powers
New data revealing the risks to patients of prescribing errors has cast shade on the nationwide expansion of pharmacists’ prescribing powers.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia hit back at Avant’s warning, pointing out the data is based on doctors’ prescribing and claiming it was driven by a long-running turf war.
Queensland president Chris Owen said pharmacists and doctors operate under the same therapeutic guidelines. “If you have the appropriate training, you should be able to practise,” he said. “The level of treatment that I would determine under my scope of practice is quite low risk. Any complications beyond that is a referral point [to a GP].”
The report found prescription-only Section 4 drugs were involved in 81 per cent of prescription-related claims, led by medicines for conditions like depression and schizophrenia. Schedule 8 medicines such as opioids were involved in 36 per cent of cases.
Trained pharmacists can prescribe some Section 4 medicines such as antibiotics, steroids and contraceptives in most states. However, they cannot prescribe more tightly controlled Section 8 drugs – a restriction Owen would like reversed.
