More than 70% of survey respondents said offering swabs in Queensland pharmacies was a bad idea that would put staff and the public at risk.
A majority of Queensland pharmacists think offering COVID-19 tests in their workplace is “a bad idea”, despite the trial being pushed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, survey data shows.
The community pharmacy trial will see Queensland pharmacists performing in-store COVID tests as early as next month.
But the pilot, which was developed in response to long queues at testing centres earlier in the year, is now being criticised by pharmacists and doctors alike.
The survey, conducted by the Australian Journal of Pharmacy, had more than 850 responses as of 4pm on Thursday 20 August to the question: “Do you support COVID-19 testing in pharmacies?”
The respondents were also able to pick more than one option in the poll.
Less than 5% of individuals surveyed said “Yes, I think community pharmacies are appropriate centres for testing”.
On the other hand, more than 70% of respondents said they didn’t support COVID testing in the pharmacy setting, opting for “this is a bad idea and puts staff and the public at risk”.
In addition, more than 40% said they didn’t support the pilot because they felt they weren’t paid enough to conduct testing, while a third said they didn’t think pharmacists were appropriately trained to conduct COVID-19 tests.
The criticism of the Queensland trial follows earlier concerns expressed by the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) that publicly advertising pharmacy COVID testing might encourage symptomatic people to think it’s okay to walk into their local pharmacy, putting staff and other customers at risk.
In response to the survey results, PSA national president Chris Freeman told the AJP that it was clear pharmacists and pharmacy staff were very uncomfortable with the decision by the Queensland government to promote COVID-19 testing in community pharmacies.
“Reviewing the social media posts from the public following the announcement shows that there is also a lack of public support for the move,” he said.
“Our members, and many Queensland pharmacists, have expressed grave concerns for their safety and the safety of their many patients who enter a pharmacy on a daily basis to receive medicines and care.”
But the Guild previously told The Medical Republic that the pilot would be strictly opt-in, and aimed to test members of the community with possible symptoms when they presented at their pharmacy for medications or healthcare advice.
The Medical Republic contacted the Guild’s Queensland Branch, but received no response before publication.
