Pharmacist prescribing could replace six million GP consults a year, guild claims
Ironically, pharmacists prescribing antibiotics to treat UTIs would avoid just 9000 GP consults annually, according to the guild-commissioned study
Letting pharmacists prescribe S4 drugs would save the health budget $700 million a year and prevent millions of GP visits, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia has claimed, as its political lobbying ramps up.
A guild-commissioned report from accountancy firm EY has suggested that 6.5 million GP consults a year would be shifted to pharmacies if state and territory governments let pharmacists diagnose and treat 13 conditions.Â
These included 1.9 million fewer GP consults to treat influenza, nearly 400,000 fewer consults for dyslipidaemia and 635,000 fewer for depression (see box).
But ironically, pharmacists diagnosing and treatment UTIs — the one condition the guild initially focussed on — was lowest on the list.
