The elusive National Council of Primary Care Doctors has spoken.
Seven GP representative groups have joined to condemn the proposed pharmacist prescribing pilot since it was leaked to the media – even though three of the organisations have known about it since late last year and have members on its steering group.
Under the proposed pilot, pharmacists in northern Queensland will be able to independently diagnose and prescribe for 23 different conditions, including type 2 diabetes, COPD, atopic dermatits, psoriasis and otitis media.
The media release came from the National Council of Primary Care Doctors, a little-heard-from group comprising ACRRM, RACGP, AMA, General Practice Registrars Australia, General Practice Supervisors Australia, the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association and the Rural Doctors Association of Australia.
The group recommends that the pilot, which is potentially going to start as early as June, be immediately cancelled.
Despite voicing deep concern with the trial yesterday, representatives from the RACGP, AMA and ACRRM have been on the steering group for the pilot for some time.
Formed in early 2021, the group has only had three meetings – the most recent of which was last month.
As reported by Australian Doctor, the original plan for a community pharmacy pilot was much smaller scale, with discussions focussing on medication reviews, contraception and interpreting laboratory tests.
The leaked document, which set alarm bells ringing by proposing pharmacists diagnose and treat 23 conditions, wasn’t sent to steering group members until Christmas Eve.
It was then leaked to media three weeks ago.
RACGP Queensland President Dr Bruce Willett said the college had joined the committee for the express purpose of monitoring the trial and was committed to “fight this every step of the way”.
The AMA has also stated that having a representative on the steering group was not a sign of its endorsement.
Neither organisation specified why it waited until several weeks after the document had been leaked to make a joint statement via the national council.
At time of writing, ACRRM has not responded to requests for comment.
Council Chair and RACGP President Dr Karen Price said the pilot put the health and wellbeing of north Queensland residents “at significant risk”.
“This pilot is not aimed at increasing rural access to primary care services, just a desire to increase profit for pharmacies based in cities and large regional centres,” Dr Price said.
The national council also said that feedback from pharmacists who work alongside rural GPs had indicated that “they have sufficient amount of work and are not looking to increase their workload”.
