The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Acting President, Cate Whalan, welcomed the announcement by the Crisafulli Government to extend the subsidy of up to $7,000 to support community pharmacists to undertake the necessary training to take part in the Community Pharmacy Scope of Practice pilot.
Ms Whalan said the $6M training subsidy was due to expire on March 31, and the extension would mean Queensland patients would have access to more services across the state.
“We welcome the announcement at the weekend by Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Hon Tim Nicholls MP, that community pharmacists will continue to be able to access this funding,” said Ms. Whalan.
“This will mean more community pharmacists can access the training and offer more services to patients across Queensland.
“The extension will mean eligible community pharmacists will continue to be able to access a subsidy of up to $7,000 to go towards the cost of completing the training,
“This extension will no doubt encourage more community pharmacists to undertake the training and in turn provide more health service options. Giving patients more options for treatment will alleviate the strain put on hospital emergency departments.”said Ms. Whalan.
Ms. Whalan also said over 1700 services had already been safely provided to Queensland patients under the Pilot.
“The Pilot allows community pharmacists, who have completed further training, to offer front-line health care to Queensland Patients for everyday health conditions, including ear infections, school sores, acne, and other chronic conditions”.“We’ve already seen more than 1700 services accessed through this Pilot,” said Ms Whalan, “that’s 1700 patients who have been given greater choice as to where and when they access health care services.”
To find out more, patients are encouraged to visit Find a Pharmacy to discover what services your local
pharmacist can offer findapharmacy.com.au/qld-scope
