A plan to allow pharmacists to treat patients for more than a dozen common conditions could risk lives, an influential doctors group warns.
The proposal by the Country Liberal Party ahead of the Northern Territory’s (NT’s) Aug. 24 election comes as other states and territories undertake pharmacy prescription trials allowing patients to bypass GPs.
Pharmacists in the NT would be given the power to treat 21 conditions, including school sores, shingles, asthma, swimmer’s ear, and hypertension.
Urinary tract infection treatments would be made available within the first 100 days of a Country Liberal government, during which pharmacists would also begin training to treat the other conditions.
Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro described the proposal as a “game-changer for patients” which would save them time and money.
“This means more convenient access to world-class medical treatment and avoids (patients) having to make an appointment to see the doctor or visit an emergency department,” Ms. Finocchiaro said on July 25.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia NT president Peter Hatswell lauded the idea as a “transformative step forward for our healthcare system.”
“By allowing pharmacists to manage common conditions, we can free up GP appointments for more complex cases and reduce unnecessary emergency department visits,” Mr. Hatswell said in a statement.
But the Royal Australian College of GPs blasted the proposal, saying it contravened Therapeutic Goods Administration rules designed to protect patients.
“Diagnosing a patient is difficult, which is why GPs train for over 10 years,” the organisation’s NT chair Sam Heard said.
“Pharmacists play an important role in dispensing and giving advice on medicines but they are not trained to diagnose patients.
“We’re especially concerned by the number of conditions in the list requiring treatment with antibiotics.
“Inappropriate prescribing of antibiotics increases the risk of antibiotic resistance in the community. When this happens, simple infections can become life threatening.”
A series of trials operating across the nation has allowed thousands of women to access a re-supply of the contraceptive pill or receive treatment for uncomplicated infections from trained pharmacists.
But a two-year North Queensland pilot that spurred the statewide trials was criticised by doctors after hundreds of patients reportedly suffered complications from misdiagnosis of urinary tract infections.
At least nine patients were hospitalised because of ineffective or delayed medical treatment, the college of GPs said.
Dr. Heard said the symptoms of a urinary tract infection were similar to those of pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, cancer, and undiagnosed diabetes.
He said the NT opposition had not consulted GPs.
The Northern Territory has struggled to attract general practitioners, with a paper released by Menzies School of Health in 2023 finding only 14 people had enrolled in GP vocational training in the Top End that year.
