Monday, 16 November 2019

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has called on the Victorian Government to make Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) more affordable in order to save lives.

In its 2020-21 Pre-Budget Submission, PSA identified four priority areas of action where funding will have a significant impact on health care and outcomes.
“Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data suggests 298 people in Victoria lost their lives last year due to opioid induced deaths.” Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Victorian President, Ben Marchant said. “Every one of these members of our community were someone’s friend or family member and leave behind grieving loved ones.”

MATOD programs support people living with a substance use disorder and provide stability and a pathway to rehabilitation through daily dosing of long-acting opioid medicines such as methadone.

PSA understands there are approximately 14,000 people currently utilising the program in Victoria, but there are substantial barriers to access.

“Cost is a significant barrier,” Mr Marchant explained. “While the medicines are free, the cost for safe, witnessed dosing is currently met by the patient. This is out of step with other states where these services can be fully government funded.”

In Victoria, MATOD services are nearly exclusively provided through community pharmacies.

“We are proposing a co-payment model. The Victorian Government would provide funds for this service in order to reduce patient out of pockets costs – making access more affordable – while ensuring pharmacists are adequately remunerated and able to offer this important service,” Mr Marchant said.

PSA has also warned that some of Victoria’s most vulnerable population groups, including children, the ill, elderly and infirm, are being put at risk due to the low vaccination rates of those who care for them.

“For example, less than 50 per cent of childcare workers are fully vaccinated and seasonal influenza vaccination uptake is inconsistent in aged care and health care workers,” Mr Marchant revealed.

To increase vaccination rates in Victoria, PSA is recommending expanding the range of vaccines trained pharmacists are able to administer in line with proposals in the current Department of Health and Human Services (Victoria) vaccination consultation and to include all vaccines recommended for health care workers and carers.

PSA’s Pre-Budget Submission also calls on the Government to establish the role of Victorian Chief Pharmacist and allocate $500,000 to upskill pharmacists in mental health first aid.

“Nearly half of all Australians will experience a mental health illness in their lifetime,” Mr Marchant said. “Mental health challenges are even more common in rural and remote areas where pharmacists are often the most accessible healthcare professional.

“Pharmacists are well placed to support patients in the community and identify them early so they can be referred to appropriate mental health providers, including general practitioners.

In Victoria, there are 7,443 registered pharmacists working in community pharmacies, hospital, general practice, aged care, Victorian and federal government and within other private sector organisations.

PSA’s Victorian Budget submission can be found here.

Media contact: Stefanie Johnston, PSA Victoria – 0417 910 738

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The state’s 784 registered pharmacists could help significantly improve the health of Tasmanians with implementation of a few relatively low cost or no-cost measures, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has championed in its 2020-21 Pre-Budget Submission.

A key recommendation is to more fully utilise pharmacists in the provision of after-hours care for minor ailments.

“For a whole raft of reasons our emergency departments are under immense pressure,” PSA Tasmania President, Dr Ella van Tienen said. “Contributing to the burden are the number of presentations by patients with less-serious ailments, such as minor pain management or cold and flu.

“Recent research shows pharmacists have the skills and expertise to support patients who would currently seek care from a GP or hospital. Pharmacists can provide self-care advice, which in most cases is what is needed, or triage patients and refer them to the appropriate health service.

“Pharmacists are located throughout our local communities and a network are already open after-hours, making them well placed to do more. We estimate this initiative could save Tasmania’s health budget over $4 million a year.”

PSA is seeking funding of $2 million for a two-year pilot program under which pharmacists spread geographically access the state are incentivised to offer expanded after-hours service.

The budget submission also calls for $700,000 to enable a dedicated medicine safety pharmacist to work in each of the state’s five adult mental health services.

“Tasmania’s mental health outpatient facilities provide care to some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Medicines are a major treatment modality for many people with a mental illness and due to the nature of these medicines and complexity of medication regimes, there is increased risk of medication error and harm,” Dr van Tienen explained.

“Tasmania actually has the highest proportion of people dispensed with mental health-related prescriptions. To ensure these medicines are used safely we would like pharmacists more actively involved in the care team.”

Enabling pharmacists to provide a broader range of vaccinations would help further protect Tasmanians against preventable infectious diseases, PSA has argued.

“While this year has seen an expansion in scope of vaccines administered by pharmacists, we still lag behind other states in terms of allowing pharmacists to provide eligible Tasmanians with access to vaccines funded on the National Immunisation Program (NIP), such as influenza vaccinations” Dr van Tienen said. “With pharmacists located in rural and remote areas where other health professionals may be limited, these communities would benefit from access to NIP vaccinations through their local pharmacy.”

Supporting pharmacists to provide HPV and Hepatitis A vaccinations will also help remove barriers limiting Tasmanians from getting vaccinated and increase herd immunity.

“With around 200 pharmacist immunisers already fully trained, this recommendation could be quickly, cost effectively and safely implemented,” Dr van Tienen said. “In fact, we believe there is no direct budget investment required.

The second nil cost measure proposed by PSA is to expand the current pilot of the Hospital Liaison Pharmacist program to link back into the patient’s community pharmacists and ensure safe transfer of care at discharge.

“In terms of their health care journey, the point of hospital discharge presents one of the highest risks of medication error,” Dr van Tienen said. “Over 90 per cent of patients have at least one medication related problem post-discharge from hospital. As their community pharmacist is most likely to be the first health care provider a patient sees after hospital discharge the pharmacist can help patients understand, manage and adhere to their medication regime and prevent avoidable readmissions, but only if they are fully informed.”

PSA’s 2020-21 Tasmanian Budget Submission is available here.
Dr Ella van Tienen is available for interview and photographs

Media contact: Ella van Tienen 0419 335 893, media@psa.org.au

2019 PSA Victoria Awards Winners – profiles

Kay Dunkley, Victorian Excellence Award
 
Kay Dunkley has worked in hospital and organisational pharmacy for over 20 years as well as conducting medication reviews in aged care and in the community.
 
Kay has a strong interest in the health and well-being of health professionals and especially the role of peer support. Kay has a long-term involvement with the Pharmacists’ Support Service, a group which has been providing telephone support for pharmacists in Victoria since 1995. In 2005, Kay became the Program Coordinator for the Pharmacists’ Support Service and has assisted the service to become an independent organisation which has expanded to provide support to pharmacists, interns and students throughout Australia. She has also helped develop a similar service for the medical profession in Victoria.
 
Kay currently coordinates both the Pharmacists’ Support Services and AMA Victoria Peer Support Service.
 
Until recently, Kay was also working part-time as a consultant pharmacist in Residential Aged Care Facilities and private homes.

Roslyn Stewart, Victorian Pharmacist Medal
 
Roslyn’s career has spanned over 40 years and included both clinical and community pharmacy.
 
Her first position was as a relieving pharmacist in Victorian country hospitals. From 1979-85 in her position of Senior Pharmacist in the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics at the Royal Melbourne Hospital she conducted drug audits. One of these was on antibiotic usage and the results from this were the impetus for the development of the Antibiotic Guidelines, the first of the many Therapeutic Guidelines booklets. These guidelines have been a major advancement in optimising and standardising treatment regimens.
 
For the past 20 years Roslyn has worked in community pharmacy.
 
She is a trained Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) Instructor and teaches Standard MHFA, Older Persons MHFA and MHFA for Suicidal Thoughts on a volunteer basis for Mitchell Suicide Prevention Network because she believes that education about mental health issues empowers people to reach out to those in need and reduces stigma.
 
Over the past few years Roslyn has been marking assignments for the medication review component of the Monash Postgraduate Studies in Clinical Pharmacy Practice.

Amanda Cross, Early Career Pharmacist of the Year
 
Amanda has worked across a diverse range of traditional and non-traditional roles. Amanda has been passionately involved with the PSA for many years, at the state level as Victorian Branch Vice President and on the Victorian and national Early Career Pharmacists (ECP) working groups.
 
In 2019 Amanda completed her PhD focused on the prevalence and impact of potentially inappropriate medication use in older people with cognitive impairment. Amanda is a talented early career researcher with a strong track record including eight peer reviewed research papers and 13 conference presentations, both national and international. She has also been recognised through multiple awards, including winning the 2018 Monash Faculty of Pharmacy Three Minute Thesis competition and received grant funding from the Victorian Therapeutic Advisory Group to conduct a medication safety study in older people with memory impairment.
 
Amanda is currently undertaking postdoctoral research as the only pharmacist in a team of allied health researchers at the Monash Department of Clinical Epidemiology, Cabrini Institute. Amanda’s current projects include examining barriers and enablers to deprescribing opioids to inform development of future interventions to reduce the inappropriate use of opioids for chronic non-cancer pain. She is also working with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care to implement the Osteoarthritis of the Knee Clinical Care Standards.
 
Amanda also works as an independent accredited HMR pharmacist and provides teaching and support to undergraduate students and supervising registered pharmacists to conduct a HMR as part of their journey towards accreditation.

18/11/2019

The ACT could implement a number of no or low cost initiatives that would significantly improve health outcomes for Canberrans and reduce pressure on the region’s ‘at capacity’ emergency departments, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia has advised in its 2020-21 Pre-Budget Submission.

“There are 625 registered pharmacists in the ACT working in community pharmacy, hospital, general practice, aged care, territory and federal government and within other private sector organisations,” revealed Pharmaceutical Society of Australia National President A/Prof Chris Freeman. “Across the territory there are 84 registered pharmacies who not only provide health care to our community but contribute to the local economy and employment.”

PSA has recommended four budget measures to the ACT Government it believes provide innovative solutions to address current health system challenges and improve the public health care system.

“The ACT has just experienced one of its worst flu seasons on record and had a number of cases of measles. Vaccination continues to be a vital health intervention in this country,” A/Prof Freeman said.

PSA has called for vaccinations to be more widely accessible through pharmacy.

“Pharmacists have been vaccinating Canberrans against influenza and pertussis since 2015 and pharmacist-administered vaccination has been shown to be safe, convenient and accessible. However, funding and availability of pharmacist-administered vaccination in the ACT has not kept pace with other jurisdictions,” A/Prof Freeman explained.

“While the training pharmacists complete to administer vaccines is similar to that of other health professionals, such as nurse practitioners, pharmacists are unable to provide eligible Canberrans with a similar level of access to vaccines funded on the National Immunisation Program.”

PSA has proposed allowing all authorised immunisers to provide the same range of vaccines and extending the age range to allow patients access comparable with other jurisdictions.

“This will improve access and equity for consumers and encourage public uptake of these vaccines by reducing financial barriers to vaccination,” A/Prof Freeman said. “Almost half of Canberra’s pharmacies are already set-up to deliver these vaccines, meaning this recommendation could be quickly and cost effectively implemented. In fact, we believe there is no direct investment required.”

Pressure on the hospital system could also be reduced by expanding pharmacists’ ability to provide care after hours for Canberrans with minor ailments and conditions.

PSA seeks the ACT Government’s commitment to provide funding of $2 million to support a 2-year pilot of formal triage and referral services in six geographically dispersed after-hours pharmacies.

The budget submission advocates for a full-time pharmacist within the Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services and for the ACT to become a signatory to the Public Hospital Reform with the Commonwealth.

Media contact: PSA Media – 0487 922 176

Download the media release here

Download report here