Health Minister Simeon Brown<\/a> said: \u201cI greatly value the work pharmacists do as trusted health professionals. <\/p>\n\u201cThey are a vital part of our communities and help relieve pressure on other parts of the health system by being a first port of call for many people seeking care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government is committed to strengthening the health workforce, including pharmacy, and improving access to care for New Zealanders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pharmacy technician shortage<\/p>\n
Campbell and Shivnan said the pharmacy technician workforce was also under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery pharmacist would say a good technician is worth their weight in gold,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n
They encouraged high school students to train as pharmacists or technicians.<\/p>\n
A technician who had attended Gisborne Boys\u2019 High School was already working in Pharmacy 53, along with a technician from the Philippines. <\/p>\n
They also had pharmacists trained over time from countries such as India, but there were processes to follow. <\/p>\n
One pharmacist in training was working in both pharmacies on different days. <\/p>\n
\u201cSo that\u2019s an example of pharmacies working together,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n
Increasing workload and talk of deregulation concerns<\/p>\n
The Government asking more of pharmacists and the potential deregulation of ownership were other issues raised by the two pharmacists. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Government wants pharmacists to do more, to provide more services, and that\u2019s to take the pressure off GP practices. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve done that with vaccinations. We\u2019re doing that now with minor ailments. And we have been successful with that new service, after-hours service, where the doctors are manning that on a roster to take some pressure off the ED department at the hospital,\u201d said Campbell. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem we\u2019ve got with the lack of pharmacists [is] the workforce is stressed out. They tell us that burnout is a problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Astuti Balram, Health New Zealand\u2019s acting director of living well, acknowledged that community pharmacy was experiencing workforce pressures.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn response, Health New Zealand has allocated workforce development funding to support pharmacists in gaining additional qualifications, and funding pathways to become prescribing pharmacists, <\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, we are focused on the growth of other priority pharmacy workforces, particularly pharmacy accuracy-checking technicians.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are also working with the sector on implementing a $5 million innovation fund on enhanced community services,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Health New Zealand had also agreed to undertake a sustainable funding review of the community pharmacy sector this year. <\/p>\n
The proposed Medical Products Bill, planned to be introduced to Parliament this year, would remove restrictions on the ownership of community pharmacies if passed into law.<\/p>\n
Campbell said talk of deregulating pharmacy ownership was concerning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe problem with deregulation is that when it comes down to profit being more [important] than patient care, we\u2019re not in agreement with that.\u201d<\/p>\n
12-month prescriptions<\/p>\n
Shivnan had concerns around the 12-month prescriptions introduced on February 1 for some patients with stable, long-term conditions, rather than three-month prescription times. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe GPs need to see their patients at their discretion. They may want to see them more than once a year. And that\u2019s understandable. The education around the 12-month prescription has been poor because people think, \u2018I\u2019ve seen the doctor\u2019 or \u2018I\u2019ve done an online consult, it\u2019s going to be for 12 months\u2019. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe doctor needs to measure blood pressure, needs to check their heart rate, all sorts of things that have to come in on a face-to-face consult. So, there\u2019s a mixed message that\u2019s been sent, [that] you\u2019re going to get a script for 12 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
Time was being taken up in explaining this to patients. <\/p>\n
\u201cOnce again, it\u2019s a situation where this initiative hasn\u2019t been consulted [on] with the key stakeholders,\u201d said Campbell.<\/p>\n
In response to the 12-month prescription concerns, Brown\u2019s ministerial office told the Gisborne Herald in a statement: \u201cThis decision follows clinical advice \u2013 including from pharmacists \u2013 that it will improve convenience and continuity of care for patients with stable, long-term conditions such as asthma, diabetes, epilepsy, and high blood pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe minister has always been clear that 12-month prescriptions are not for everyone. Whether one is appropriate remains a clinical decision between a GP and their patient, based on what is safe and suitable for that individual.<\/p>\n
\u201cFunding has also been set aside to ensure pharmacy income is maintained as the new 12-month prescriptions become available, with Health New Zealand working with the sector on the development of a permanent, system-wide reimbursement model to deliver this.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balram said Health New Zealand had been working with community pharmacies and primary-care providers to prepare and support them through the 12-month prescription initiative.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile there were initial concerns of the financial impact on community pharmacy with this initiative, Health New Zealand has committed that there is to be no adverse impact for community pharmacy from the dispensing fees.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The national average was about eight per 10,000. Shivnan, of Sean Shivnan Pharmacy, and Campbell, of Pharmacy 53,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":304735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[6127,806,74186,13019,166812,10709,7123,4190,26560,738,12506,9978,166813,661,1432,111,43,139,69,9769,84095,14373,3194,21411,23908,381,14182,8238,166814],"class_list":{"0":"post-304734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-already","9":"tag-as","10":"tag-attracting","11":"tag-burnout","12":"tag-chemists","13":"tag-concerns","14":"tag-current","15":"tag-demand","16":"tag-difficulty","17":"tag-funding","18":"tag-gisborne","19":"tag-grows","20":"tag-longestablished","21":"tag-major","22":"tag-model","23":"tag-new-zealand","24":"tag-news","25":"tag-newzealand","26":"tag-nz","27":"tag-owners","28":"tag-pharmacist","29":"tag-pharmacists","30":"tag-pharmacy","31":"tag-pressure","32":"tag-qualified","33":"tag-region","34":"tag-shortage","35":"tag-under","36":"tag-underserved"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=304734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/304735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}