The New Brunswick Pharmacists’ Association says they can play a larger role in addressing the province’s primary care crunch.
Executive director Jake Reid says pharmacists are ready and willing to divert patients from elsewhere in the system.
“Pharmacists are capable and trained health-care practitioners and they’re able to look after a variety of health services, you know, common ailments that you may go to a clinic or to your doctor for, (or) the emergency room for,” he said.
“Here’s a team of health-care professionals — right now they’re really on the sidelines.”
Right now pharmacists are able to treat over 30 different minor ailments, without the involvement of a doctor or nurse practitioner. However, most of those aren’t covered by Medicare.
Treatment for urinary tract infections, contraception management and prescription renewal have been covered since earlier this year. But patients have to pay a fee between $20 and $25 when seeking care for smoking cessation, rashes, cold sores and a variety of other conditions.
Prince Edward Island recently began covering the entire scope of practice for pharmacists, and Reid says New Brunswick should follow suit.
“Right now patients are being sent to community pharmacy for a lot of these minor ailments for assessment and for treatment, but unfortunately they’re not all payed for by Medicare, so that causes confusion on behalf of the patients,” he said.
Health minister Bruce Fitch was not made available for an interview, but a spokesperson for the department said the number of services being covered could be expanded.
“The government continues to review the minor ailment program and is considering future funding of additional pharmacy services that could support access to primary health care,” said Sean Hatchard in an email.
When the P.E.I. program was launched, it was estimated that it could divert about 27,000 appointments. Reid said that number could be much larger in New Brunswick.
“New Brunswick is a province about five times the size of P.E.I., so we could expect somewhere in the vicinity of you know 130,000-150,000 appointments that could be probably seen in community pharmacy, which obviously would have a huge impact and would be great for patients so they have better access,” he said.
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