Pharmacists should be allowed to prescribe antibiotics for UTI because countless women are being offered no choice but to “suffer through the night or visit emergency departments”, the Queensland health minister has declared.

Doctor groups are increasingly alarmed at the looming rollout of the state’s trial amid fears patients will be misdiagnosed and the fight against unnecessary antibiotic prescribing undermined.

Although the trial was announced one year ago, for the first time Queensland Minister for Health Steven Miles has attempted to justify the experiment, which will run in the state’s pharmacies until the end of 2021.

“This trial is about making sure women have the treatment they need when they need it,” he told Australian Doctor.