The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch, has welcomed the final Service Evaluation Report of the Urinary Tract Infection Pharmacy Pilot - Queensland (UTIPP-Q) which is now a permanent and successful service available for Queensland women in community pharmacies.
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Queensland Branch President Chris Owen said the final report, authored by Professor Lisa Nissen on behalf of the UTIPP-Q consortium, cemented the success of the pilot and showed that patients were overwhelmingly happy with the service; would use it again and recommend it to others.
The QUIPP-Q Services Evaluation Report states that overall, 10,270 Queensland women had their Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) symptoms identified and managed by a community pharmacist in a safe and effective manner during the pilot. Some 87.6 per cent reported that their UTI had successfully resolved and where symptoms had not resolved and other care had already been sought by the patient, pharmacists verbally referred patients to their GP.
“The service was of significant value because of improved accessibility and convenience. Community pharmacy remains the most reliable and trusted health profession and the report demonstrates that female patients experienced high-quality care and treatment,” Mr Owen said.
“For female patients experiencing these symptoms, having timely access to fully trained community pharmacists saves them from having to wait days to access care from a GP or present at an already strained and stretched emergency department.
“Over many months, the powerful doctor lobby groups, who recently gloated about their role ‘to grease the wheels of Government’ have made sweeping unsubstantiated claims causing unnecessary alarm and fear regarding the UTIPP-Q Pilot.
“Documentation received following a Request for Information from the Department of Health Queensland, categorically ruled out all 10 claims made by these conflicted doctor lobby groups, clearly stating they were all unsubstantiated.
“For months we’ve been pouring energy into disputing the false and misleading claims of the subversive doctor lobby groups and now we have definitive proof they were wrong.
“The RTI documentation clearly shows that a review of the UTIPP-Q service evaluation report, by an independent group of different academics, found no allegations could be substantiated.
“It is imperative that the community is made aware of these false claims and can continue to trust community pharmacists in the safe delivery of the permanent UTI service.”
Mr Owen highlighted that community pharmacists in Queensland were found to follow on all occasions the treatment protocol and referred patients appropriately to GPs when UTI symptoms had not resolved.
“We sincerely hope that the mistruths and misinformation stop, but we won’t hold our breath, as claims to date have lacked integrity.
“Such false claims undermine the trust and credibility of the powerful doctor lobby groups and their members should be deeply disappointed in the concerted effort of their leadership team spreading false claim, mistruths and misinformation within the community; patients deserve better.
"Grass roots pharmacists and GPs continue to work collaboratively putting them at odds with a stubborn rump of a small section of members.
“Pharmacists would prefer to work together with our fellow medical professionals to deliver better heath care for our patients, instead of constantly correcting the false comments and mistruths.”
