The State has launched Chemist Care Now as a public promotional campaign for the expansion of the Community Pharmacist Program. AMA Victoria does not support pharmacy prescribing, and this expansion continues a direction of reform that we believe works against safe, coordinated primary care.
Pharmacists are valued colleagues. Their role in medicines, counselling and safety is essential. But they are not trained to diagnose in the same way as medical practitioners. They do not receive the extensive training in clinical diagnosis, physical examination or differential diagnosis that is required for accurate assessment. Their expertise is in medicines, not in determining the cause of undifferentiated symptoms. Allowing independent diagnosis in this context poses risks to patient safety. It increases the likelihood that serious conditions will be missed or mistreated, and expanding the model increases those risks.
The model fragments care. It separates diagnosis from continuity, removes it from a practitioner who knows the patient and sees the full clinical picture, and relies on checklists that cannot replace clinical judgement. Fragmented care leads to poorer outcomes and weakens coordination across the health system.
The model also embeds a conflict of interest. Pharmacists assess, prescribe and sell the product in the same environment. Doctors do not. Medical prescribing is guided by clinical need, not by a retail transaction. Independent clinical judgement requires independence from commercial influence.
These concerns sit within a wider policy environment that is pulling general practice in opposite directions. Federal incentives are pushing general practice towards shorter consults. State policies are sending many of those same simple presentations to pharmacists instead of GPs. Each reform is presented in isolation, but together they weaken continuity, undermine the GP’s role in providing comprehensive, coordinated care, and undermine the viability of general practice itself.
Patients benefit from coordinated, independent clinical assessment. They benefit from continuity, proper diagnosis and a system that holds the full clinical picture together. General practice provides that care.
We understand the State will promote Chemist Care Now through a public campaign. At a time when cohealth has announced closures, that funding would be better spent strengthening access to general practice.
AMA Victoria will continue to, and always will, advocate for strong, GP-led primary care.