Kim Brotherson, Pharmacy 777 Managing Director

At a time when our health system is facing unprecedented pressures, including a rapidly aging population, a shortage of GPs and longer wait times for medical appointments, the role that community pharmacies play in Australia’s health system has never been more vital.

The waiting times for Australians to see their GP – particularly in regional areas, where one in five are waiting more than three weeks for an appointment has increased the need for the health system to shift toward innovative, and safe ways to improve Australians’ access to the standard of care they need and deserve, and Australia’s community pharmacy network is rising to that challenge.
 
The shift towards community pharmacies expanded role in providing primary patient care was greatly accelerated in recent years, when pharmacies became a trusted and readily accessible source of frontline health advice and service.
 
Here in WA, it’s estimated that over one million Western Australians visit one of the state’s 600 community pharmacies each week, and with 84% of Australians trusting the advice they receive from their pharmacist, the role pharmacists play in Australians’ overall health and wellbeing makes them an essential pillar in our worldclass healthcare system. 
 
On the horizon, WA is already set to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice to progress towards autonomous prescribing for a broad range of conditions over the next couple of years. WA has embraced expanding the level of primary care that community pharmacists can deliver initially for women’s health, including treatment for uncomplicated Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) and the resupply of the Oral Contraceptive Pill (OCP) – two commonsense programs that relieve pressure on GPs, and provide easy and safe access to the treatments they need for common conditions. In its first year alone, Pharmacy 777 Pharmacies have led the way in early adoption of the services as they become available, with the group completing over 1900 UTI consultations in WA. Pleasingly, these programs will continue to be expanded over the next 18-months to encompass other acute conditions like shingles, acne, musculoskeletal pain, nausea, vomiting, and wound management.
 
With an increased scope of practice comes a need for increased education, upskilling and training. Steps are already underway with government and universities to ensure that pharmacists are prepared for these changes and will be ready for any expansion of programs including acute specific management.
 
In a vast state like WA and particularly in remote areas like the Pilbara, community pharmacies play an essential healthcare role. In Pharmacy 777 Group’s case, our pharmacy in the Pilbara established an award-winning pharmacy outreach service for Mawarnkarra Aboriginal Health Service in Roebourne and expanded its services to suit FIFO workers – demonstrating the valuable contribution and difference a community pharmacy can make, no matter its location.     
 
Currently across Australia, the Community Pharmacist landscape is shifting. Like the retail sector, recent consolidation of major players in the pharmacy sector has reshaped the competitive landscape and increased pressure on smaller independent pharmacies, especially for those that provide personalised essential services to their local communities.
 
These smaller players in the pharmacy sector cannot compete on price and range with the large discount warehouse pharmacy model but are forging an alternative approach, which sees independent community pharmacists shifting their perspective from seeing customers to helping patients. When a patient leaves a doctor’s office, they remain a patient at a community pharmacy.
 
This opens the door to a broader, more meaningful role in quality use of medicines beyond checking prescriptions. Personalised care that delivers meaningful outcomes requires pharmacists to assume a shared responsibility. Until a patient reconnects with their doctor, I believe it’s the pharmacist’s role to ensure the dispensed medication is providing expected results.
 
The future of pharmacy is a service-based, clinical pharmacy practice in a community setting, working in collaboration with the wider health care network to deliver optimal health outcomes for patients.
 
Community pharmacy is here to stay and to serve… and it will continue to evolve into true community health destinations through innovation, and safely expanding its vital healthcare role in line with protective government regulations and community needs and wants.
 
It is an exciting time for pharmacists who want to do more, provide better services and serve their community as opportunities will continue for those enthused current and future pharmacists.