The Northern Queensland Primary Health Network has become the fifth organisation to quit the expert committee overseeing the Queensland Government’s pharmacy prescribing trial, with its chairman saying he wants to avoid “perceived conflicts of interest” as a pharmacy owner.

A pilot scheme covering 180 pharmacies and a population of 670,000 is currently being developed by Queensland Health to allow pharmacists to work at their “full scope of practice”.

According to a draft consultation document, the idea is to allow them to diagnose medical conditions and then prescribe and dispense up to 150 different S4 drugs.

The AMA, RACGP and ACRRM have all quit the 15-member steering group tasked with developing the pilot and overseeing its implementation and evaluation.