Ontario pharmacists could soon be able to fill and write prescriptions for minor sicknesses without a doctor’s order, recommends a report released Nov. 18 by the provincial health ministry.
Rather than having to go to a doctor or hospital for every small health issue, pharmacies could become the first stop for prescription extensions, drug adjustments and medication monitoring through pharmacist-ordered lab tests, the Health Professions Regulatory Advisory Council has recommended.
The report also suggests pharmacists be allowed to:
• adjust prescriptions;
• extend some refills;
• order lab tests to ensure medications are working properly;
• teach people how to inject themselves with medications and use blood-testing devices;
• initiate smoking-cessation treatments, including the use of prescription addiction suppressors.
Jason Mackie, pharmacy manager at Arcade Guardian Pharmacy on King Street, said the move to give pharmacists more responsibility is a positive one.
“It’s something every pharmacist would be interested in doing. It makes sense from (the standpoint of) saving the health-care system a lot of money,” he said, adding once additional information is released, more people will be receptive to it.
There are approximately 11,000 pharmacists in Ontario, and about 3,000 drugstore outlets. The report, presented to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care in September, was released publicly last week.
Not everyone was as excited as Mackie about the recommendations. The Ontario Medical Association, the group that represents the province’s physicians, said the move could endanger patients.
“Patients expect doctors to be the ultimate health-care provider,” said OMA president Dr. Ken Arnold. “And I think that setting up other levels of health care, lesser levels of health care, isn’t really what the public is used to.”
Arnold added doctors spend years learning the skills to properly diagnose ailments and prescribe the correct drugs. He questioned whether pharmacists would be able to pick up the same skills quickly.
Dennis Darby, head of the Ontario Pharmacists’ Association, said none of his members would be prescribing drugs without proper training and, more importantly, without strict diagnostic criteria worked out with physicians.
– With files from TorStar News Service
