Victoria is the latest state to move towards pharmacist prescribing, with Premier Daniel Andrews promising a trial allowing pharmacists to prescribe antibiotics for UTIs and medicines for other conditions if re-elected.

UTIs are common, especially among women, with half getting at least one in their lifetime.

So should pharmacists be able to prescribe common medicines such as antibiotics for UTIs?

We asked five experts – including an infection control academic, a leading GP, the researcher who evaluated the UTI prescribing trial in Queensland, and a health economist.