Pharmacists Can Help Ease Workload On Canberra GPs, Australia

Main Category: Pharmacy / Pharmacist
Article Date: 24 Aug 2009 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions

Canberra patients should look more to utilising the professional services of their pharmacists when seeking advice for many medical conditions which do not necessarily require treatment by a doctor, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia says.

The ACT President of the PSA, Associate Professor Gabrielle Cooper, said pharmacists were the most accessible health-care professionals and were trained to provide professional advice and counselling on many common ailments and conditions.

Dr Cooper was responding to a survey which found Canberra patients can wait a week for a doctor's appointment while others sometimes have to travel to Sydney to see a GP. It also found that with a shortage of doctors in the territory, nearly 70 per cent of Canberrans have turned to the internet for medical advice.

The results are contained in the ACT Health Care Consumers Association's submission to the Government taskforce investigating Canberra's acute GP shortage. Dr Cooper said the PSA supported the calls for more general practitioners but with the current shortage of GPs, consumers should be more aware of the services available at their local pharmacy. "In addition to the shortage of GPs in the Territory, the GPs we have face an enormous workload," Dr Cooper said.

"Consumers can help ease that workload by going to their pharmacist to seek advice for many ailments and conditions. There is no need to make a booking and certainly no need to wait up to seven days which seems to be the case for many Canberra patients trying to get in to see their GP.

"Community Pharmacists are trained in primary health care and are available to the general public to assist in identifying what symptoms may require urgent therapy, and will often contact the GP or hospital to escalate the presentation if the need arises.

"If the symptoms are minor and self limiting, pharmacists will give advice and support to patients and their carers to give them confidence to look after themselves in their own homes and thus reduce the strain on the already overstressed acute healthcare system. Pharmacists are daily providing this healthcare service and support to aid in the health of the Canberra community. "This is a win-win situation for the patient and for the GPs in the ACT. The patient receives treatment and advice and the doctor is able to concentrate on cases which require their attention."

Dr Cooper said the submission to the taskforce investigating the GP shortage highlighted the need to find ways to reduce the case load on Canberra's general practitioners. "What pharmacists offer is an accessible and efficient tool to help ease this workload," Dr Cooper said.

Source
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia