The key role of pharmacists in chronic disease management rather than preventive health is the main message to come out of the Federal Government's new snapshot into the future, according to the Pharmacy Guild.
The Third Intergenerational Report (IGR3), released on Monday, predicted that the Government's total health spending would rise from four per cent of GDP this year to 7.1 per cent by 2050 as the proportion of Australia's population older than 65 years almost doubled.
Meanwhile, the ratio of working age adults to seniors was predicted fall from five today to 2.7 by 2050.
In contrast to the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, which yesterday said the predictions meant that drug use needed to be reduced and preventive health programs in pharmacies boosted, Guild president Kos Sclavos hailed the report as an endorsement of PBS-subsidised medications.
"Others have commented about preventive health but it is not what this is about," Mr Sclavos told Pharmacy News.
"IGR3 is about participation and productivity and chronic disease management is the key. Preventive health should be aimed at school age children but for the person who is 40 today, who is a little overweight and may have had a complication with diabetes, it is PBS medicines and our management of these chronic disease conditions that is going to be important."
Mr Sclavos said pharmacists needed to "step up" because they were going to become increasingly important in chronic disease management and medication compliance.
"By the end of the IGR3 period, something like 50 per cent of the workforce will have at least one chronic disease that they will need to manage," he said.
"So it will be crucial for the pharmacist to assist those patients to stay healthy and be productive."