GPs slam Guild plan

Both the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) have rejected the proposal, outlined in an address to the National Press Club of Australia from Pharmacy Guild of Australia president, Kos Sclavos, last week.

Mr Sclavos lobbied for a form of pharmacist prescribing rights called medication continuance under which pharmacists would be allowed to write repeat scripts for chronic conditions for up to 12 months as well as writing repeat scripts for low dose statins, the contraceptive pill and certain antibiotics.

The AMA said the proposal would put patient safety at risk.

"Doctors must maintain sole responsibility for prescribing medication to patients," AMA President, Dr Rosanna Capolingua said.

"The AMA is extremely concerned for patients if they are given access to these medications without seeing a doctor.

"If a prescription-only medicine is issued without a current prescription, this would amount to pharmacists prescribing and this is something they are not trained to do," she said, adding that any prescribing by the people who make a living from selling medications would present a clear conflict of interest.

The RACGP echoed the AMA's concerns and said patients may be better served by scripts for longer periods, monitored in partnership with their GP.

"This would reduce demand on pharmacists; although it would also impact on the payment they receive each time they dispense a medicine," said RACGP president Dr Vasantha Preetham.

"Quality of care needs continuity – continuity of the information thread about a patient's care, being on the same page about a patient's care where more than one person is involved, and continuity of the relationships.

"A way of maintaining continuity is to allow longer periods for prescriptions," she said.

Both groups voiced support for a proposal to expand pseudoephedrine monitoring tool Project STOP to take in sales of other drugs of abuse.