Page 10 - Federal Budget Submission 2016-17

Integrating pharmacists into General Practice
“ Pharmacists co-located in general practice clinics can deliver a range of interventions, with favourable results in chronic disease management and quality use of medicines.51
The integration of pharmacists within the general practice setting has been adopted by the NHS in the UK.52 Many other countries, including New Zealand, Canada and USA, have pharmacists providing clinical services in general practice settings.53 In Australia, the concept has received endorsement from leading medical organisations, acknowledging the value pharmacists add to the primary healthcare team.54,55 The growth of the model, however,
Role of pharmacists
A practice pharmacist is best defined as one who delivers clinical pharmacy services from or within a general practice medical centre or other primary care practice (multidisciplinary clinic, Aboriginal Health Service) through a coordinated, collaborative and integrated approach with an overall goal to improve the quality use of medicines by the patient.57
The practice pharmacist role is diverse and should be adapted to the needs of the practice setting and their patients.58 The core roles include patient consultations, medication information and education, and drug use evaluation (see box).
Practice pharmacists assist with medication enquiries from patients and health professionals, conduct staff education, review prescribing, mentor new prescribers, participate in case conferences, liaise across health sectors, undertake medication management reviews, and evaluate drug utilisation to ensure optimal therapy.61 Other roles pharmacists could undertake
has been limited to a small number of practices due to the absence of funding. This is in stark contrast to the UK, where the NHS England recently announced that funding for the pharmacists in general practice pilot program had doubled to £31 million as
a result of the overwhelmingly positive response from general practice clinics.56
included point-of-care testing (e.g. blood pressure, blood glucose, INR) and monitoring, clinical audits, health assessments, immunisation, transitional care and facilitation of shared medical appointments.62,63
As part of their collaborative work, an important element of
the practice pharmacist’s role is liaison with local community pharmacists to ensure continuity of care, and assist in transitions of care.
Practice pharmacists have noted that being able to access the patient’s medical file for a complete patient history enables meaningful, informed clinical interventions and enhances pharmacist–GP communication and collaboration.64,65 Full access by the pharmacist to the patient’s medical records is a necessity in order to provide optimal patient care.66
10 Federal Budget Submission 2016-17 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd.
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