Bigger role for pharmacists worries doctors

This article could replace every reference of New Zealand and change it to Canada and it could be published in a Canadian paper. The issues seem to be the same around the world.

From the New Zealand Herald News:
Pharmacists' calls for more healthcare responsibility could have dangerous consequences if patients stopped seeing their GP, the head of the Medical Association has warned.

Peter Foley's comments follow the Pharmacy Guild's push for more funding, as part of a review of its district health board contracts, to act as a first point of contact in administering some health care.

Health Minister Tony Ryall said this week the Government was in talks with pharmacists about them playing a bigger role in tending to the sick.

Pharmacy Guild chief executive Annabel Young said pharmacists wanted to be given the right to help patients in managing chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and asthma through health counselling and guidance on prescribed medicine use. They also wanted to be able to carry out medicine-use reviews, which involve monitoring patients' use of prescribed medication to ensure better results and cut the costs of unused medication. ...more