Ontario looking into expansion of pharmacists' role in healthcare

Government considers allowing pharmacists to treat more ailments, order lab tests, administer more vaccines

BY Noel Sales Barcelona 25 Jul. 2024

The Ontario government has announced plans to expand pharmacists’ role in healthcare by broadening their knowledge and further honing their skills to provide healthcare.

The government also said that they will find innovative and creative ways to make local pharmacies “a one-stop shop” for people to conveniently connect to healthcare, especially for simple and common illnesses that do not need complicated medical attention.

“Our government is continuing to expand our bold and innovative plan to make it easier for people to connect to the care they need, close to home,” said deputy premier and minister of health Sylvia Jones.

“Pharmacist prescribing has been a huge success in Ontario, and we are excited to work with our partners to help explore more opportunities to leverage pharmacies to connect people to care in Ontario, no matter where they live.”

One million health assessments since 2023

The Ontario health department stated that since January 2023, pharmacists across the province have been able to provide one million assessments to treat and prescribe the necessary medication for 19 common illnesses like cold sores, pink eye, insect bites, and urinary tract infections.

The provincial health department also said that over 4,600 pharmacies, or 99% of all Ontario pharmacies, are now participating in the MedsCheck program, connecting people to care in every corner of the province.

Because of the program’s success, Ontario is consulting on more ways to leverage the skills and expertise of pharmacists to continue making pharmacies a one-stop shop for more convenient care closer to home. This includes:

treating and prescribing for 14 additional common ailments, such as sore throat, calluses and corns, mild headaches, shingles, and minor sleep disorders including insomnia;
ordering specific laboratory tests and performing additional point-of-care tests such as strep throat testing, to make it faster and easier to assess and treat common ailments;
administering additional publicly funded vaccines at pharmacies, including Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pneumococcal, and Shingles to increase access to care and save people a visit to the doctor’s office;
allowing pharmacy technicians to administer additional vaccines, such as Hepatitis A and B, Rabies, Meningococcal, and Human Papillomavirus;
identifying barriers in hospital settings that limit pharmacists from ordering certain laboratory and point-of-care tests, to make it easier for people to connect to care and reduce the burden on nurses and doctors; and
improving the MedsCheck program to support health outcomes and reduce unnecessary service duplication and administrative red tape, while continuing to protect patient choice.

The Ontario government believes that expanding the knowledge and skills of pharmacists as frontliners in giving medical care to people will also give family doctors more time to help people with more complex needs.

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