The Federal Goverment has unveiled new draft laws which will allow pharmacists to dispense oral contraceptives and statins to patients without prior knowledge of their regular GP.
Yesterday health minister Nicola Roxon introduced the National Health Amendment Bill into parliament which will give pharmacists limited powers to offer continued dispensing.
Provided the patient has already been prescribed the medication by a doctor, pharmacists will be able to dispense the medications when the patient does not have a repeat script.
The government said the measure will initially only apply to oral contraceptives and statins because of their good safety profile. But it is widely expected to be extended to other therapeutic groups - possibly covering some diabetes drugs and antihypertensives.
But the AMA condemned the plan, saying it would put patients at risk.
AMA president Dr Steve Hambleton said: “Only doctors are adequately trained to make assessments about a patient’s clinical condition and the need for medical treatment. A pharmacist has no way of knowing whether the patient’s doctor intends the patient to continue with a particular medication, to adjust it, or to cease that treatment."
He added: "The medico-legal risks of continued dispensing for both pharmacists and doctors if an adverse medication event occurs have not been explored."
The AMA said it had written to all MPs and Senators urging their support for amendments to the proposed legislation.
But the Pharmacy Guild said the plan would benefit patients. It stressed that no pharmacist would be dispensing PBS drugs which had not been prescribed by the patient's GP.
“The prescribing of the medication will continue to be the sole domain of the patient’s doctor. The legislation provides for a mandatory feedback loop to the prescriber that continued dispensing has occurred."
It added: “Continued dispensing will provide an additional mechanism for patients to gain access to certain PBS medicines where a valid prescription is unavailable. This could apply, for example, in cases where a prescription has been lost and a doctor consultation is not readily available. Professional protocols will apply, so that quality and patient safety will not be compromised.