QUEENSLAND’S peak medical body is uncomfortable with allowing selected allied health professionals to prescribe medication.
QUEENSLAND Health is considering the idea to help tackle hospital outpatient waiting lists, the Courier-Mail reports.
Physiotherapists, podiatrists and pharmacists would be allowed to prescribe drugs under the overhaul. But Australian Medical Association Queensland president Dr Shaun Rudd is uncomfortable with the idea. He says now medical practitioners can only prescribe drugs after taking detailed patient histories. “You have to be very careful with using medications, you have to know what they’re on, you have to know what drugs may interact with other drugs,” Dr Rudd told Fairfax Radio. “Believe me, it’s far from a simple process.” Dr Rudd insisted doctors had no problem with delegating appropriate jobs to allied health professionals, but said prescriptions wasn’t one of them. He welcomed efforts to reduce outpatient waiting lists, but hinted that the solution could lie in employing more allied health professionals.