Tonight at the NSW Pharmacy Guild of Australia's reception at Parliament House, the state's Health Minister confirmed that the scope of practice for community pharmacists will be extended to include minor skin conditions starting next year.

"Tonight, we announced that we will move to the next stage of the trial, which is the management of skin conditions in NSW, an important component of the scope of practice, and we will launch this in early Mar.

"This phase of the trial is within NSW Health and we will liaise with a strong team that will look at the alternative service models for the component, recognising that pharmacists already provide advice to consumers on mild skin conditions.

“It's important to state, critical to the success of the trial has been the involvement and support of key stakeholder groups, including the Guild, University of Newcastle, peak bodies such as the RACGP and the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, who have been involved in the co-design process."

Park commented that this collaboration has been “very beneficial in terms of shaping the clinical management protocols and the referral escalation points to be used in the trial, which is important governance around the process, as well as encouraging and building strong relationships between the pharmacist and GPs to ensure continuity of care”.

"Tonight is about recognising that we've made progress, it's not recognising that the job is done, as the job is not done," Park remarked.

The NSW Guild also recognised five Life Members for their outstanding contributions and achievements in front of a number of parliamentarians, 80 Guild members and pharmacists.

 
More details in tomorrow's issue of Pharmacy Daily.