VICTORIA’S community pharmacists could be providing adult flu jabs in time for the 2015 influenza season.
THE Victorian government is considering a report with 17 recommendations to expand the role of community pharmacists, including a pharmacy immunisation trial for adults.
However, the plan is opposed by doctors, with the Australian Medical Association saying it will compromise patient health care. Parliament’s legal and social issues committee chair Georgie Crozier said the inquiry heard that pharmacists played an integral role in Victoria’s health system and were capable of doing more. “The committee hopes that this report will identify the greater role community pharmacists can play in the Victorian health system,” she said on Tuesday. The report also recommends that a select group of pharmacists pilot a minor ailments scheme in rural Victoria, and pharmacists could also be part of a chronic disease screening and management program. AMA Victorian president Dr Tony Bartone said it would oppose these moves as well. “Any decision which seeks to provide a substitute for a qualified doctor is a wrong decision,” he said. “Doctors must remain at the centre of care – not as a second opinion.”