Pharmacists learn a range of useful primary health care skills during their five years of training, and they already play a big role in helping patients with basic healthcare advice and access to medicines.

Pharmacists in New South Wales have begun providing more everyday healthcare like administering more vaccines, treating UTIs, and providing resupplies of the oral contraceptive pill.

The Government’s announcement will see appropriately trained pharmacists provide even more everyday healthcare.

Pharmacists who have completed the required training will be able to treat a wide range of common acute ailments like nausea, acne, and earaches.

The plan will also see a trial in regional New South Wales of pharmacists treating common chronic conditions like asthma and COPD. That trial will begin within 12 months.

Pharmacists already provide everyday healthcare like treatment for uncomplicated UTIs and vaccinations. These treatments won’t be changed.

Pharmacists will be able to provide new services aimed at treating common acute conditions like nausea and earache once they complete the required training.

The training is available in Queensland, where pharmacists have already begun offering these services. That means that some pharmacists have already completed the training, but others have not.

The training takes twelve months to complete. These services will become more available as universities in New South Wales provide the training and more pharmacists undertake it.

We expect that pharmacists trained at universities in New South Wales will begin offering these services by 2026.

Our research shows 91% of NSW residents are supportive of pharmacists providing more services, provided they are trained and follow professional standards and guidelines.

Pharmacists are a highly trusted profession, with our research finding 80% of voters trust them to provide advice for common, non-complex conditions to themselves and the people they care for.

People expressed high levels of support for pharmacists treating UTIs (71%), flu tests (84%), travel medicine (85%), monitoring cholesterol levels (83%) and asthma doses (83%).

We commissioned independent research which found:

• Limited access to GPs has forced more than one in four people (28%) in regional NSW to visit emergency departments in the past three years. The figure state-wide is one in five (20%)
• More than a third of NSW residents (37%) are waiting longer than they think is acceptable for a GP appointment, with nearly half (47%) of those in regional NSW reporting the same
• People in regional NSW are significantly more likely to wait more than three weeks to see a GP (17% against 12% for all of NSW)
• More than a third of NSW patients (39%) report having to make an appointment with a doctor other than their regular GP

Yes, and it really makes sense to make use of what pharmacies have done to scale up their services since COVID-19.

Pharmacies are on the ground in the community in hundreds of suburbs and towns. That’s a huge network that can deliver primary health care.

Many pharmacies have skilled up during COVID-19 and brought in extra people with the right skills to administer vaccinations and support other tasks.

Since May of 2023, pharmacists have delivered thousands of treatments for everyday health conditions like UTIs and common skin conditions.

Like many professions, pharmacists could undertake additional training to deliver additional services.

Yes. Patients will have more access to everyday healthcare services across the state, and it will free up time for doctors to focus on more complex health issues.

For example, during COVID-19, more than 3,500 pharmacies across Australia successfully helped administer vaccinations. To date, they’ve administered more than 10 million doses. That’s millions of people who did not have to go to the GP, a hospital or vaccination centre to get this simple procedure performed.

Allowing pharmacists to provide more services to patients with routine conditions will free up doctor’s appointments and help people access the treatment they need without presenting to an emergency department.

Yes, they are. Pharmacists undergo a minimum of four years training as part of their university education, and a one-year intern program before being registered to practice. This includes training in primary healthcare skills.

Like all other primary healthcare professionals, pharmacists undertake continuing professional development through their careers, and they abide by a Professional Code of Conduct.

Pharmacists who seek to autonomously prescribe medication under the NSW Government’s plan will be required to complete an additional 12 months of training, including 120 hours of supervised practical training.

We need to be clear that pharmacists will only provide specified high-volume, low-risk services, within their capabilities and with the appropriate training.

It is an appropriate, practical response to the current healthcare access crisis that can be quickly implemented to bring relief to patients and reduce pressure on doctors and hospitals.

Thousands of patients have already accessed treatment from pharmacists for everyday health conditions like uncomplicated UTIs

The Queensland Government has conducted a successful trial of pharmacist prescriptions for common urinary tract infections. The trial was so successful that it was made permanent in October 2022.

Following the lead of Queensland and New South Wales, every other state and territory has begun to allow pharmacists to offer treatment for uncomplicated UTIs as well.

Another trial for a larger range of services in Far North Queensland, which the NSW Government’s plan will mirror, has already begun. Similar reforms have also been announced by the governments of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.