Queensland Government bows to pharmacy lobby, warns RACGP

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) has issued a warning to the Queensland Government, accusing it of prioritising retail politics and pharmacy owners over patient health and safety.

The backlash follows an announcement by Queensland’s Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Tim Nicholls MP, that the state’s controversial pharmacy scope of practice pilot will be expanded and made permanent. The announcement, made at the Australian Pharmacy Professional (APP) conference, has raised concerns among healthcare professionals.

Cate Whalan, Queensland Acting President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia defended the move, citing convenience for patients.

“We know that 97% of people who live in metropolitan areas live within 2.5 kilometres of their nearest community pharmacy, and 83% of regional Australians live within five kilometres of their nearest pharmacy,” she said.

“Making treatment for [16] acute and everyday conditions, such as eczema, ear infections, travel health and school sores (impetigo), permanently available through community pharmacy will offer Queensland patients more choice in where they are able to access quick and safe health care services.”

However, the RACGP remains adamant that the policy is a dangerous gamble with patient health. While pharmacists play a vital role in advising on medicine safety and efficacy, they are not trained to diagnose medical conditions – a critical distinction that, according to the RACGP, risks misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatment, delays to proper healthcare, and a fractured health system.

RACGP Rural Chair and Townsville-based GP Associate Professor Michael Clements, dismissed the policy as a political fix rather than a genuine solution to healthcare access.

“As a North Queensland GP, I’ve been at the heart of the pharmacy prescribing trial, and the myth of its value as a solution to rural health access,” he said.

“This is not a criticism of pharmacists, who are our colleagues – we can’t overstate their value. The problem is a powerful industry lobby seeking to expand pharmacy owners’ revenue streams, offering what seems like a straightforward solution. That this was announced at the largest pharmacy trade exhibition in the southern hemisphere speaks for itself.”

A/Professor Clements also criticised the evidence base behind the policy, saying “GPs and other doctors spend at least a decade training to diagnose conditions. You can’t learn diagnosis in an online course – it’s a process of elimination, and this is the opposite approach.

“As just one example, the symptoms of a UTI are similar to symptoms for pregnancy, STIs, cancer, and undiagnosed diabetes. Too many patients will be waiting for a mistargeted medicine to solve their issue instead of seeing a doctor, without knowing that medicine is at best doing nothing useful.”

Defending the move during his opening address at the APP conference, National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia Professor Trent Twomey framed the expanded scope of practice as a necessity amid a struggling general practice workforce.

“With so many of our GP colleagues burdened under long waiting lists, burnt out and exhausted, there are not enough hours in the day for those scripts to be safely written. Patients are delaying and deferring the healthcare they need because they can’t see a doctor. Pharmacists have the expertise, training and opportunity to alleviate this struggle,” he said.

Yet, A/Professor Clements remained unconvinced, pointing to the limited data on the pilot’s effectiveness. he said, “The scale and types of service provided by pharmacists in the pilot has been small, giving a limited basis for claims of safety at best.

“The data simply has not been provided to claim this approach is effective, let alone safe. If anything, it also speaks to the limited value this approach will provide for Queenslanders who need access to medical care.”

Professor Twomey painted a picture of a future where “full scope will restore 6,000 community pharmacies to triage and treatment units, akin to urgent care clinics. It means patients will be ‘thinking pharmacy first’.”

A/Professor Clements argued that the pharmacy-first model weakens the healthcare system rather than strengthening it.

“Exceptionally few pharmacy consults led to a referral to a GP. Less than half of services by a pharmacist resulted in notification of a patient’s GP, meaning when they tried to address an issue a pharmacist didn’t solve, only the patient can tell their GP what was observed and what treatment was provided.

“Despite guardrails in the pilot, it’s resulting in a less well-connected and effective healthcare system. This is the Crisafulli Government listening to an industry lobby’s suggestion of an easy solution, not the evidence. The pharmacy lobby wants more people through its owner members’ doors.”

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