Page 8 - Federal Budget Submission 2016-17

Pharmacists are an integral part of the primary care team
Pharmacists are highly qualified health professionals yet their skills, knowledge and expertise are often under-recognised
and under-utilised. Australia now has a large and growing pharmacist workforce that is highly trained and with a much younger age-profile than most other health professions. Moreover, the workforce size is keeping pace with demand as compared with other health professions that are experiencing contractions in their workforces.36,37 Contemporary pharmacist training, often involving multidisciplinary teamwork, makes them ideally placed to take on collaborative roles.
During the debate that followed the proposal to introduce a co-payment for general practitioner (GP) services38, some health policy experts suggested that the Government look instead to the existing health workforce.39
The Grattan Institute report on solutions for GP shortages in rural Australia underscored the need for GPs to be better supported by pharmacists and other health professionals.40
The breadth of locations in which pharmacists work, and their important contribution in each of these settings (see box), is well aligned with the shift towards more collaborative and patient-centred models of health care designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the health system, particularly for consumers with chronic disease.44,45
The role for Australian pharmacists in collaborative, consumer-centred models has thus far been described in very limited and peripheral terms,46 in contrast to international models.47 This unfortunately leaves Australia lagging behind
in terms of applying the evidence; the models in which significant benefits have been demonstrated internationally are GP-led, but use an expanded staffing model in which nurses, pharmacists and others assume greater care management roles.48
To support pharmacists to optimally contribute to collaborative consumer-centred models of care, the pharmacy workforce must be developed to meet the changing demography and healthcare needs of a population that is burdened by increasing levels of chronic and complex disease.49
“ There needs to be revitalisation of primary care, helping this sector adapt to the increased prevalence and importance of chronic conditions. The skills of health professionals are not being used properly. Use of all the skills of other professionals, such as nurses and pharmacists, needs to be encouraged.41
8 Federal Budget Submission 2016-17 I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd.
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