National President’s Message: COVID-19 Update

6 May 2020

 

This week marks a significant decision point for Australia’s return to a more normal life. Following seven weeks of Stage 3 public movement restrictions, the National Cabinet is meeting today and on Friday to consider a pathway to moving to Level 2 restrictions. While last week saw some jurisdictions make small adjustments to Stage 3 restrictions last week, National Cabinet will consider much more significant changes when it meets. This is cause for cautious but growing optimism.

 

As recent public debates over school closures, public recreation activities and physical distancing requirements have shown, there is significant community confusions over the public health measures. This confusion is likely to grow as restrictions change, potentially at different rates in different locations.

 

As public health ambassadors, we all have a responsibility to help our patients and community navigate these restrictions and provide confidence in the expert advice they provide to our governments. It is vitally important you are across the restrictions relevant to your area, the rationale for them and that you demonstrate them in your work.

 

This week, I’d like to update you on the following:

 

Electronic prescriptions

 

Electronic prescriptions will begin to be available from the end of May 2020. Long promised, the introduction of electronic prescriptions will mark one of the most significant changes to pharmacist workflow since the computerisation of dispensaries in the 1980s.

 

Electronic prescriptions are paperless prescriptions, where the legal copy of the prescription is fully-digital and exists in the Electronic Prescription Repository.

 

Electronic prescriptions will initially be accessed through tokens, where patients are provided with a unique QR barcode sent via SMS, email or an app (if the patient has one) or printed on paper during the consultation. This will be similar to technology that the patient is already familiar with such as an electronic boarding pass for a flight or online ticket to a sporting event or concert.

 

To access the prescriptions, the QR code (token) is scanned and downloaded via prescription exchange servers (for example, eRx/MediSecure etc.) directly into dispensing software for dispensing. PSA has been working with the Australian Digital Health Agency and other peak bodies to inform implementation which supports pharmacist workflow, particularly in relation to professional, legal and medicine safety obligations.

 

In the lead up to the launch of electronic prescriptions at the end of the month, I encourage you and your colleagues to review the Agency’s information page on electronic prescriptions, including vital information on how to prepare your practice.

 

Pharmacy interns: supporting flexibility and certainty

 

The intern year is a tough year, even without the added stress of COVID-19. As I’ve written previously, PSA has been working with the Pharmacy Board of Australia (PBA) to recognise the challenges COVID-19 has created for interns and seek appropriate flexibility to ensure interns can meet the requirements of general registration in a way which does not play undue stress on their health or employment – particularly in relation to burnout.

 

I’m pleased that PBA last week announced interim modifications to these requirements, including:

• reducing supervised practice hours required from 1824 hours to 1575 hours
• waiving the requirement for a minimum of 80 hours of supervised practice during any four consecutive calendar week
• waiving the requirement for at least 152 hours of supervised practice under the supervision of an individual preceptor
• sensible changes to the examination requirements, including delaying the June and July written exams to October in an online exam, and changing requirements to sit the oral exam.

 

More detailed information can be found on the PBA’s website and the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) website.

 

PSA fought hard for these sensible changes, and I welcome these announcements which provide certainty and more flexibility for interns.

 

Practice issues: declining supply

 

During COVID-19, pharmacists have been subject to unacceptable abuse and aggression from patients when declining supply of medicines to enforce supply limits and new restrictions aimed at maintaining the integrity of the supply chain and supporting the safe use of medicines.

 

PDL has provided advice which supports guidance provided by PSA in relation to declining requests for salbutamol and hydroxychloroquine where supply is not appropriate or legal.

 

Following notifications, PDL has recently provided practice advice to help pharmacists responding to requests for medicines affected by regulatory changes:

• inform patients of the regulatory changes during the supply process
• explain the reasons for these changes and the limitations the changes place on pharmacists
• discuss with patients the factors which led to your decision to agree to or decline supply
• provide recommendations to facilitate continuity of care (e.g. seeking medical review for consideration of bronchospasm in a person not diagnosed with asthma)

 

While recognising this may take additional time, PDL has emphasised the importance of good communication in reducing the likelihood of confusion of allegations of discrimination. I join with PDL in strongly urging all pharmacists to document any decision to decline supply of medicines, particularly salbutamol and hydroxychloroquine.

 

Promoting public health measures to your patients

 

As I touched on in the introduction, public health messages can be confusing to patients, particularly when there is local variation to restrictions which is difficult for national media to effectively communicate.

 

As we move towards a likely progression to Stage 2 restrictions, it is important you convey the staged approach to restrictions, including:

• the likely need for physical distancing to be ongoing for some time, and demonstrating this in your practise
• importance of patients undergoing COVID-19 testing, even in cases of mild symptoms
• benefits of those who are vulnerable in continuing to exercise caution and limit public contact
• potential for localised restrictions in response to outbreaks

 

Indeed, clamping down on local outbreaks will become one of the most critical parts of Australia’s pandemic response. In revealing Australia has met 11 of the 15 measures required to provide confidence in relaxing restrictions, the CMO and Prime Minister have emphasised the need to increase capacity for rapid contact tracing.

 

The most effective way this can be achieved is through increased uptake of the COVIDSafe app. I encourage you to continue to promote the app to your patients and to your teams to help speed up contact tracing when positive cases are detected. The Melbourne meat-packing plant outbreak this week shows just how quickly the virus can spread and the importance of rapid contact tracing.

 

WHO Medicines Without Harm: Australia’s response

 

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care have released Australia’s response to Medication without Harm – WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge. The global challenges aims to reduce the harm caused by medicines by 50% by 2025.

 

The Commission have described Australia’s goal as reducing medicine errors, adverse drug events and medication-related hospital admissions by 50% by 2025. This is an ambitious goal.

 

As described last year in PSA’s watershed report, Medicine Safety: Take Care, medicine safety problems result in 250,000 hospital admissions and 450,000 emergency department presentations, of which 50% are avoidable.

 

The response focuses Australia’s efforts in polypharmacy, high-risk medicines and transitions of care. These areas have been identified in PSA’s medicine safety report series as the areas of highest patient medicine safety risk. Success in these areas will go a long way to achieving this goal of 50% reduced harm.

 

As medicine experts, pharmacists have the most significant role to play in reducing medicine-related harm. Pivotal in Australia achieving this goal will be policy settings and funding which support pharmacists in their roles as leaders in medicine safety.

 

As your representative body, PSA will ensure medicine safety is front and centre in everything we and pharmacists do, including ensuring the upcoming 7th Community Pharmacy Agreement adequately addresses the medicine safety challenge and supports pharmacists to address this issue.

 

Weekly webinar: COVID-19 related burnout

 

Last Wednesday, I was joined 7CPA lead negotiator Dr Shane Jackson and pharmacist and Queensland ECP of the year 2019 Nicolette Ellis. We talked about COVID-19 and telehealth, particularly the follow-up services that have been announced for HMRs and RMMRs. COVID-19 has driven uptake of telehealth much faster than anticipated, including the recent announcement by the Government that pharmacists can deliver HMRs, RMMRs and MedsChecks to eligible patients via telehealth.

 

During Stage 3 restrictions you have dealt with increased workload, panic buying, medicines shortages, inappropriate off-label prescribing, irate customers and the stress of self-isolating from family and friends to prevent transmission of the virus. I’ve seen the toll it’s taken on you. You’ve been put in situations that have caused incredible stress.

 

Join us as tomorrow night as discuss burnout, reducing your emotional load, and managing conflict, including de-escalating irate customers who may take their frustrations out on you. I’ll be joined by Gary West from PDL, and Kay Dunkley from PSS to answer your questions about how to look after yourself. The webinar is available be at 7.30PM EST Wednesday night. Register here.

 

Stay up-to-date

 

Our dedicated COVID-19 microsite continues to see strong traffic. There will be further updates in the coming days with state-specific mapping of temporary amendment to First Aid and CPR requirements for vaccination during COVID-19.

 

In this week’s videos I talk about the importance of the COVIDSafe app and call for increased penalties for assault against pharmacists.

 

Sincerely,

Associate Professor Chris Freeman

National President

Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

Update on internship requirements and examinations

PSA have been advocating on behalf of interns to the Pharmacy Board of Australia (PBA) to ensure that interns are not delayed in the journey to general registration due to the impacts of Covid-19.

 

The PBA has today announced some interim modifications to some of the requirements for general registration and examinations.

 

The main changes are:

• The number of supervised practice hours required for general registration has reduced from 1824 hours to 1575 hours
• Interns are no longer required to complete a minimum of 80 hours of supervised practice during any four consecutive calendar week
• Intern no longer have to complete a minimum of 152 hours of supervised practice under the supervision of an individual preceptor for those hours to count towards supervised practice.

 

Examinations Update:

• A pass in the written examination will not be required to sit the October oral exam
• To be eligible to sit the October oral exam, interns are required to have completed 75% of the revised supervised practice hours (1181 hours).

 

More detailed information can be found on the PBA’s website and the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) website.

 

At this time, we would encourage you to focus on maximising your workplace experience and completing your ITP assignments to prepare yourself for the examinations and general registration.

 

We appreciate these changes will impact you all differently so please contact us on 1300 369 772 or learnersupport@psa.org.au if you have any questions/would like to discuss.

National President’s Message: COVID-19 Update

National President’s Message: COVID-19 Update

 

 

21 April 2020

 

I want to start by congratulating you and your families for your sacrifice and discipline during this unprecedented global pandemic. This week we have started to not only see the curve flatten, but community transmission all but fall away. Without being complacent, Australia is arguably in the strongest global position to defeat the virus, but the economic impacts of which will be felt for decades.

 

You continue to amaze me for your resilience, dedication to the profession and community and ability to care. The rate of regulatory changes from all levels of Government continues at a frenetic pace and it can be understandably difficult to keep up. The last seven days saw the introduction of telehealth medicine review services, follow-up visits for HMRs/RMMRs, changes to pharmacist vaccination and regulatory changes at state/territory level for digital image prescriptions.

 

In this week’s column, I want to work through a number of these changes with you to help reduce confusion and keep you informed on how we are working to help reduce some of the pain-points you are constantly experiencing in your daily practice.

 

Changes to medicine review services

 

I open this week’s President’s message with two significant announcements relating to medicine review services. The first is the announcement that Government will fund pharmacist delivery of medicine management reviews via telehealth. The second is the introduction of up to two follow-up consultations for HMRs and RMMRs, where needed by patients, to help manage medicine-related problems.

 

Telehealth

6CPA medicine review program services can now be delivered by telehealth to eligible patients. These services include HMRs, RMMRs, Medschecks and Diabetes Medschecks. Subject to eligibility criteria (which includes the vast majority of patients) patients can start accessing these remunerated pharmacist services through video or phone consultation from today.

 

To support you in these changes, we have developed resources to help you conduct these services in a new delivery mode. You should particularly be aware of the privacy and encryption levels of the tools which you use.

 

AHPRA and the Department of Health have reminded health professionals delivering telehealth services that many free platforms do not have adequate encryption for delivery of health services. The Department of Health notes telehealth can be provided through video calling apps and software such as Zoom, Skype, FaceTime, Duo, GoToMeeting and others.

 

I cannot tell you how hard PSA staff and elected representatives have fought for these changes. The outcome of this work is that from today you can pivot to providing these services in a new online format for those patients who are eligible, often vulnerable, and who need these services.

 

I will be facilitating an upcoming webinar on telehealth and electronic prescriptions where we will be able to provide you with practical guidance on digital health advancements during COVID-19.

 

Follow-up consultations: HMRs and RMMRs

 

Today is momentous as it marks the start of remunerated follow-up visits for HMR and RMMR services. Follow-up consultations means patients can receive additional review services to help resolve complex and multifaceted medicine problems after the initial review.

 

Follow-up consultations are essential in supporting a more effective cycle of care and helping pharmacists be more effective in resolving medicine safety problems. With 250,000 hospital admissions each year due to medicine-related problems, the safe and quality use of medicines is more important than ever.

 

PSA has updated the practice guidelines to support and reflect current best practice when providing these services:

• Guidelines for Comprehensive Medication Management Reviews: including new guidance for HMRs and RMMRs on considerations for recommending and undertaking follow-ups after the initial review, support for collaboration and communication with the healthcare team and describes the role of pharmacists as part of this team when providing medication management review services.
• Guidelines for Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) services: best practice guidance for pharmacists providing QUM services in residential aged care facilities. Be guided on how to plan and undertake QUM activities that form part of a QUM Plan and contribute to continuous quality improvement.

 

The guidelines have been developed with funding provided by the Department of Health.

 

These funded follow-ups have been the subject of many months of discussions between PSA and the Department of Health and the Health Minister. I have long advocated for a system that allows for medicine reviews to be conducted frequently that is dependent on patient’s needs, with meaningful follow-up and I commend the Government for making this necessary change.

 

Digital image prescriptions

 

Digital image prescriptions remain a challenge. This important initiative to enable telehealth medical consultations remains haphazard and burdensome in its implementation.

 

Where are digital image prescriptions legal?

 

The past week has seen South Australia, NSW and Tasmania join Victoria and WA in making regulatory moves to enable lawful supply of prescriptions from an electronic digital image.

 

ACT Health advised our members in Canberra late last week that digital image prescriptions fall within existing ACT poisons regulations. In the Northern Territory the ability to supply medicines off electronic image-based prescriptions is enabled under existing legislation.

 

This leaves Queensland, alone, as the only jurisdiction in which digital image prescriptions are not currently permissible. PSA understands that enabling regulation in Queensland is currently being held up due to advice that the measure requires an act of Parliament.

 

Confusion reigns

The state and federal interface always causes confusion – and it is unsurprising that confusion is rife at a time in which changes are happening so quickly. But what I am hearing, loud and clear, is that you are wearing an incredible administrative burden from this confusion, often in the time-consuming role of communicating government regulatory changes to medical colleagues.

 

I am receiving reports some prescribers and their staff are:

• sending prescriptions as digital image prescriptions and then sending the originals to the pharmacy; the original hard copy prescription must be retained by the prescriber for compliance and audit purposes.
• refusing to supply original prescriptions for medicines not eligible for supply under the arrangement (e.g. Controlled Drugs (most states)); prescribers are responsible to ensure phone/fax orders (i.e. prescription owing) are dispatched to you without delay.
• requesting pre-paid return addressed envelopes to supply original prescriptions to pharmacies.
• requesting you send staff to collect prescriptions at their clinics.

 

However, most of all, I’m receiving reports that this is becoming a point of friction with prescribers at a time it is more important than ever we all work collaboratively to support and facilitate the safe supply of medicines.

 

Risk in unannounced changed: NSW and S4D

In introducing digital image prescription arrangements last Friday, NSW Health added five new substances to S4D (pregabalin, quetiapine, tramadol, zolpidem and zopiclone). Given their potential for abuse and diversion, this change made a lot of sense and is welcome.

 

What didn’t make a lot of sense was to effect this change on the day it was announced, in effect ripping six months off the expiry date for these prescriptions overnight without warning. These changes were a surprise and not included in the announcement for digital image prescriptions the weekend prior.

 

In failing to announce this change in advance:

• Patients on long-term stable therapy (particularly quetiapine and pregabalin) may have been left overnight without a valid prescription requiring them to see a doctor immediately to arrange ongoing therapy
• Those of you in NSW were in a dangerous position where you may have been completely unaware of this change and likely to have unwittingly supplied medicines outside of its validity period.

 

We have worked to quickly communicate this change to members via our microsite and social media. PSA continues to work with NSW Health to help communicate these changes to the profession and more wisely to ensure both yourselves and prescribers are aware of these changes and not exposed to professional risk.

 

Demonstrating the need for pharmacist expertise in government

 

The genesis of confusion was the Government factsheets which did not effectively communicate that state and territory regulatory changes were required prior to supplying of medicines under this arrangement become lawful.

 

While developing sound policy implementation is difficult in this rapidly evolving environment, it is unlikely this oversight would have occurred if an Australian Chief Pharmacist existed within the Department of Health which signed off on the information. I will continue to raise this with the Department in my meetings with officials.

 

Providing clarity

 

PSA’s teams around Australia are in regular contact with Health Departments to help clarify details on these interim arrangements to help inform members around the country. To help you keep track of the plethora of changes affecting your practice, we have rejigged the way we present this information on PSA COVID-19 microsite.

 

From today, state-specific regulatory information is available side-by-side with PBS eligibility requirements for special arrangements such as digital image prescriptions and continued dispensing. You can find it here.

I trust this will make it easier to find critical information quickly when you need it. I would value feedback, as there is the potential to expand this format to other areas of pharmacy practice (vaccination, opioid replacement etc.) Our microsite will continue to be updated daily, and I will continue to keep you informed of major changes through my weekly email and PSA’s social media channels.

 

Pharmacy Interns

 

In my email last week, I raised the fact that I have heard from a number of pharmacy interns in regard to their concerns about completing their required hours should they have to go into quarantine or self-isolation.

 

Interns have particularly communicated to me a fear of the potential for repeated 14-day self-isolation periods following potential COVID-19 exposures, and the stress associated with how this impacts on their required intern hours or even ongoing employment at the end of the year.

 

I understand these fears. There is a real potential that any of you may be required to self-isolate for 14 days multiple times during the pandemic. I have raised a number of issues on your behalf directly with the Australian Pharmacy Council and the Pharmacy Board of Australia. I have asked for urgent review of the requirements this year to provide the flexibility and certainty that you need.

 

While there is nothing to announce yet, I am confident am confident there will be changes announced shortly to help you satisfy the requirements of general registration within the regular 12-month time frame. It concerns me that there is not the clarity required that you need in a time of higher than usual stress levels, and that this might exacerbate mental health concerns of our intern pharmacists.

 

Rural and remote Australia

 

During the week, PSA CEO, Mark Kinsela, attended the Rural and Remote Health COVID-19 meeting with the Federal Minister for Rural Health Mark Coulton. It was welcome to hear the minister specifically recognise pharmacists for the great work that you are all doing in your communities.

 

In addition to state and territory government testing centres, the Government is supporting the establishing of respiratory testing clinics including eight in rural and remote centres. These are being delivered through the PHNs and you should make yourself familiar with the testing facilities available for you, your patients and your staff in your local area.

 

The Government remains focussed on supporting the mental health of rural Australians, including the health workforce. The Government has supported resources to support your mental health well-being. Up-to-date links for support can be sourced via our microsite.

 

The minister also outlined the Government is looking at investing further resources to support locum services, including greater flexibility for access. In a sensible measure for rural and remote Australia, the ACCC has provided flexibility to pharmacy wholesalers who have been provided exemptions to coordinate medicine distribution during COVID-19. The minister also outlined ongoing monitoring of medicine supply chains, and reported a stabilisation of supply in recent weeks, which is consistent with reports from those of you in rural and remote area.

 

During the meeting, Mark raised a number of issues of concern directly with the minister, including:

• Access to PPE and medicines supply issues in rural and remote pharmacy
• Need for support and planning for single pharmacy towns to ensure continuity of access to medicine should key personnel be required to self-isolate due to infection or exposure to COVID-19
• COVID-19 testing for pharmacy staff
• Challenges with pharmacy interns – pharmacy closures, isolation, and preceptor access.

 

We are attending these meetings weekly and will report back to you progress on these issues. Being in these meetings and able to raise concerns directly to the minister is helping us to achieve timely and pragmatic solutions to the problems you, in our rural and remote communities, are facing.

 

Therapeutic substitution

 

As I reported last week, the direction the initiative has taken is not acceptable and therefore we cannot support it without significant change.

 

I will continue to work on your behalf with Government to work towards a model of therapeutic substitution during out-of-stock situations which actually works, and which recognises the skills and knowledge of pharmacists. It shouldn’t be this hard. It is in your capability and you can certainly be trusted to work out that 2 x 250mg tablets = 1 x 500mg tablet.

 

Risk of complacency

 

The continued reduction of daily COVID-19 notifications is extraordinary in the context of the global pandemic progression. Australia’s strong infection control response and island advantage has seen the curve flattened beyond our most optimistic prediction.

 

This has led to agitation from some Australian voices to relax our physical distancing and ‘Stay at Home’ directives, and risks community complacency in vigilance against COVID-19 exposure.

 

I endorse the sentiments of population health experts and chief medical officers in reinforcing the ongoing importance of physical distancing and Stay at Home directives. As health care ambassadors, it is important that you and your staff continue to reinforce these messages with your patients and support them to continue to access pharmacist care consistent with these recommendations.

 

This includes;

• Actively encouraging delivery and contact-free options for people over 70 years who should be self-isolating at home
• Discouraging people who are unwell from entering a pharmacy
• Encouraging people with fever or acute respiratory symptoms to seek advice and testing for COVID-19
• Encourage and demonstrate physical distancing in the pharmacy

 

There are positive signs however the community must remain vigilant. One aspect of this is the overwhelming demand for influenza vaccine we have already seen. I welcome the Health Minister’s recent announcement of an additional 3 million influenza vaccines available to Australians through community pharmacy and GPs in the coming months.

 

We are continuing to work with Government to ensure there is adequate influenza vaccine supply in Australia and we have been assured there are nearly 8 million vaccines for the private market this year, up from close to 7 million vaccines last year.

 

Weekly Webinar

 

Last Wednesday, I was joined in our webinar by PSA’s new General Manager for Policy and Engagement, Chris Campbell. The webinar focused on the best way to set up your pharmacy or pharmacy practice to accommodate the changes and new ways of working to protect you, your staff and your patients during COVID-19.

 

This practical topic created intense interest and positive feedback and I would like to thank Chris for joining me and answering all your questions.

 

COVID-19 has shown us the damaging impact which stigma can have in our society. In this week’s webinar, we focus on the issue of stigma through the lens of Hepatitis C in the second instalment of PSA’s ‘Facing Up To…’ series.

 

Jarrod McMaugh MPS will talk with a person living with Hepatitis C to help us see the impact and effect of stigma through their eyes. They’ll discuss barriers to treatment, stigma, and the importance of testing, contextualised within what can be done during COVID-19 isolation measures to limit the spread of the disease and support patients living with the condition.

 

Help face up to the stigma experienced by people living with Hepatitis C. Bring the questions you’ve always wanted to ask but were too scared to. This is your opportunity to hear someone speak openly about their lived experience of Hepatitis C and the stigma that surrounds it in a safe environment.

 

The webinar will be run twice (7.30PM EST and 9.00pm EST) so as many of you as possible can join the conversation.

 

Register here.

 

Stay up-to-date

 

Our dedicated COVID-19 website is continually updated with the latest information that you need to be supported while you care for the community during the COVID-19 crisis. There are series of FAQs on the website and can be found here.

 

Your PSA team are working hard to keep you informed and support you during the pandemic. Keep feeding back the issues and concerns which you are working through to help us help you. Please contact us at membership@psa.org.au.

 

Week-in and week-out you are showing that our profession is dedicated, reliable, dependable and worthy of the trust that our society places in you all. The pandemic and physical distancing requirements will continue to be with us all for some time and patients will look to you for reassurance and support. Never underestimate the value of a 30-second conversation or a caring word towards your patients at a time when they are struggling. The work you do every single hour and every single day enhances our community during this pandemic.

 

Sincerely,

Associate Professor Chris Freeman

National President

Pharmaceutical Society of Australia

National President’s Message: COVID-19 Update

14 April 2020

 

I know that Easter for many of you was spent on the frontline, working to address this COVID-19 crisis that is enveloping us. I know that for many of us, COVID-19 is consuming not only our personal lives but our work lives.

 

There has been some good news in the last few days with some promising developments. Physical distancing, testing and quarantine measures are consolidating the flattening of the curve, with a rise in cases of about 2 per cent overall cases. This is a call for real hope and real aspiration.

 

PSA has been working over Easter to address the issues affecting you, and the policy and regulatory changes that have been made by State or Territory and Commonwealth Governments continues to change the health landscape which we work in.

 

Digital Image Prescriptions

 

I am getting an enormous amount of feedback, concern and frustration from you all on the issue of digital image prescriptions and the increasing confusion, workload and stress that this measure is causing.

 

Many of you from all around Australia are being left in a quandary and are stuck in the middle between the federal legislative instrument and the state and territory regulations. This is causing profession-wide confusion, greater workload and more administration at an already frantically busy time.

 

There is particular confusion given the Australian Government factsheets did not effectively communicate that state and territory regulatory changes were required prior to supplying of medicines under this arrangement become lawful.

 

Victoria and WA are currently the only jurisdictions where supply under this PBS special arrangement can be lawfully made at present. NSW has announced digital image prescription arrangements which will commence this Friday (17 April). These states have shown terrific leadership in this case and all other states and territories should follow suit with a matter of urgency.

 

I have made representations about this issue with both the Department of Health and Minister of Health’s office. I have made it clear that it is unacceptable that pharmacists are expected to break the law to provide patients with their medicines. GPs are heeding Commonwealth advice that they can send prescriptions electronically without forwarding a hard copy with the legislation in the states playing catching up.

 

PSA is working with the state and territory governments to accelerate this as quickly as possible in a way to minimise the additional burden this has caused you all. We understand what the Government is attempting to do in keeping the community safe – but this has to be done in a way that does not expose pharmacists to professional risks from being forced to break the law.

 

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

 

I was pleased to see the Australian Government announce last week that it will distribute 500,000 masks to pharmacy workers.

 

This is a good start as there has been significant and increasing demand for face masks and personal protective equipment for pharmacists working on the frontline face-to-face with patients. But we must ensure that pharmacists, like other frontline health workers, receive the adequate protection they need to care for their patients.

 

While the advice from Government regarding PPE has not changed, I will continue to work with the Government on your behalf to ensure there is adequate supply of personal protective equipment when it is needed for you all throughout this pandemic.

 

I understand some of you are having difficulties sourcing the PPE through your PHNs. If you are please let me know and we will follow up with the PHNs for you.

 

Therapeutic substitution

 

I am frustrated to report that work on the therapeutic substitution arrangements recently forshadowed by the Health Minister are not progressing well.

 

The Australian Government’s current proposed model involves a protocol being issued by the TGA to instruct pharmacists on how they should respond to every shortage.

 

This is not workable and is unacceptable to us. Being able to substitute strength and dose is well within a pharmacists’ skills and knowledge. In fact, it treats pharmacists with contempt at the time when we are providing vital healthcare to our communities. We will be providing you, our members with information later this week, and we may urge you to contact your local members to discuss this issue with them.

 

In a profession where we are accountable for making complex medicine safety decisions, it is inconceivable that the Government would see the need to advise pharmacists that 2 X 20 mg tablet equals one 40mg tablet.

 

We have long called for a Chief Pharmacist to be located within the Commonwealth Department of Health. A pharmacist, like the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nurse who would be there fighting for the role of pharmacists in this pandemic. We will again make this call, so we know that pharmacists will have a voice, and that medicines policy advice comes from medicines experts – pharmacists.

 

Pharmacy closures

 

I have heard of pharmacies being forced to close due to isolation requirements for staff in NSW and West Australia. Pharmacists, who come into contact with a member of the public who is COVID-19 positive, are unlikely to be considered close contacts and therefore not likely to need to self-isolate for 14 days.

 

However, should a staff member become COVID-19 positive it is highly likely that anyone who has worked with them would be considered close contact during the period of working together and would need to self-isolate. In some small pharmacies this could mean your entire workforce would need to isolate.

 

If pharmacies are forced to close, particularly in a rural or remote area, there are serious implications for medicine supply, particularly if other staff are unavailable.

 

It is therefore essential that you either separate your workforce of if that is not possible, introduce additional measures to protect your team including additional restrictions on the number of patients in your pharmacy.

 

Pharmacy Interns

 

I have had a number of pharmacy interns contact me in regards to concerns about completing their required hours should they have to go into quarantine or self-isolation, and I know this is currently the case for a small number of interns across the country. While the Pharmacy Board’s response to this issue indicates that they may consider options for supervision, I am recommending that they do more to assist interns affected by COVID-19.

 

Simply put, there must be a relaxation of the supervised hours requirements for pharmacy interns and representatives of the PSA will meet with the Pharmacy Board this week and we will strenuously put the case for relaxation of the supervised hours requirements. Until this is dealt with and dealt with quickly, I am concerned that this will put undue stress on our pharmacy interns and exacerbate anxiety and stress at this time.

 

I will also stress that the Pharmacy Board should make representation to the Commonwealth as their agents for public safety to waive the fees of all pharmacists for re-registration in 2020.

 

Webinar COVID-19: Pharmacy layout and protection

 

Last Wednesday, I was joined by Associate Professor Alistair Reid, who as well as being Australia’s only rheumatologist and infectious disease physician, delivered valuable insights on treating COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients, medicines supply issues and herd immunity. His comments were supremely practical and, if you missed it, I encourage you to watch the recording here.

 

This week’s webinar to be held tomorrow night from 7.30pm-8.30pm will focus on the best way to set up your pharmacy or pharmacy practice to accommodate the changes and new ways of working to protect you, your staff and your patients during COVID-19. I will be joined by Queensland Branch President Chris Campbell to answer your questions on these topics. You can register for the webinar here.

 

Volunteer your expertise

 

I know that significant expertise lies in our membership and a large number of you work in a variety of practice settings. I would like to encourage you to offer your expertise to your fellow pharmacists by joining our COVID-19 pharmacy register where you can lead and be involved in creating resources and tools for your fellow pharmacists in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic. We will be establishing the sign-up to this register in the coming week, so stay tuned, if you can’t wait, feel free to email me or the membership team with your area of interest.

 

Stay up-to-date

 

I am pleased to tell you that visits to our dedicated COVID-19 website have more than doubled over the past month. The site is continually updated with the latest information that you need to be supported while you care for the community during the COVID-19 crisis. There are series of FAQs on the website and can be found here.

 

Please contact our team or myself for support, feedback or any inquiries you may have at membership@psa.org.au.

 

As we move into a more stable period of our pandemic response, I am confident that the profession will continue to serve the community with compassion, care and professionalism that has been evident from the moment that the pandemic started.

 

Sincerely,

Associate Professor Chris Freeman
National President
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia