The Pharmacy Board of Australia has published a report about a forum it hosted to consider the need and opportunities for expanding pharmacist involvement in prescribing.
The pharmacist prescribing forum’s report followed the day-long event which the board described as an opportunity to explore, identify and articulate the roles of different stakeholders to successfully develop proposals about pharmacist prescribing that could be implemented and sustained as part of a broader range of health services to effectively meet the health needs of the community.
Stakeholders at the forum included hospital and community pharmacists, government health department representatives, professional association delegates, state and territory pharmacy authorities, consumer representatives, education providers, the Australian Pharmacy Council, New Zealand government advisers, pharmacists with first-hand experience as prescribers overseas, Pharmacy Board members and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency staff.
The report outlines the next steps to develop proposals for pharmacist prescribing.
To keep the conversation going, the board is now developing a discussion paper that will include the outcomes of the forum and a range of consultation questions to further explore, including:
- Models of prescribing that can be pursued by the profession, including the supporting evidence.
- Identification of gaps in evidence that may need to be addressed by the profession.
- Issues that need to be considered and addressed to assess the regulatory need for an endorsement in relation to scheduled medicines.
Feedback can be provided by email to PharmBAfeedback@ahpra.gov.au.
