More than 350 pharmacies will perform type 2 diabetes checks in a national trial aimed at strengthening early detection
More than 350 pharmacies will perform type 2 diabetes checks on customers in a national trial aimed at strengthening early detection.
In coming weeks, 363 randomly selected community pharmacies across Australia will start testing the effectiveness of different screening approaches to detect risk, aid diagnosis and permit early intervention.
“This model keeps GPs at the centre of patient care but allows pharmacists, who have high levels of contact with the community, to identify and refer patients to a GP,” Health Minister Sussan Ley said, announcing the trial last week.
The trial will target patients aged 35-74, who don’t have diabetes or impaired blood sugar control and have not been tested for diabetes in 12 months.
They will undergo one of three screening methods: the AUSDRISK risk-assessment questionnaire alone, with an HbA1c test, or with capillary blood sampling.
With Type 2 diabetes increasingly common in younger age groups, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and those with a family history of diabetes, nearly one million Australians are affected and the national cost is approaching $1 billion a year. But for every five known cases, an estimated four cases go undiagnosed.
The trial – managed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia with the University of Sydney and Deakin University – is part of the federal government’s $50 million 6CPA Pharmacy Trial Program that seeks to extend pharmacists’ role in delivering primary healthcare services.
