With many pharmacies now offering extended scope of practice services across NSW, it is important for pharmacy owners to ensure your pharmacy is meeting all legislative requirements for these services.
NSW health has recently reminded pharmacists and pharmacy owners that:
“… it is a requirement under the NSW Health authorisations that allow for Schedule 4 medicines under the extended scope of pharmacist practice, that pharmacies offering the services treatment of urinary tract infections (UTI), hormonal contraception resupply, and management of skin conditions trial, are listed on the National Health Services Directory (NHSD), Healthdirect Australia. These services can only be offered by pharmacies on the NHSD and the listings must be kept current. To list a service on the NHSD, go to Register with the NHSD. You can update a listing to include further services via the NHSD service update form.”
PDL advice
The PDL Professional Officers remind pharmacy owners that they cannot delegate their professional obligations and must have awareness and understanding of all services provided in their pharmacy as outlined in The Pharmacy Board of Australia Guidelines for proprietor pharmacists.
Providing and maintaining a quality health service to a high standard requires robust Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) processes and good clinical governance. The PDL Professional Officers encourage pharmacy owners and employee pharmacists to regularly review all pharmacy services currently offered to ensure compliance with legislative requirements and best practice guidelines.
Key points to consider in relation to each service offering include:
- Is your clinical and legislative knowledge up to date and how is this maintained?
- Does the pharmacy have Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in place and are all staff (including newly inducted staff) trained in these procedures?
- Have there been any incidents reported, or feedback received from patients or staff? If so, have these been reviewed, have steps to improve the service been actioned and were these actions effective?
- Are current resources, including staffing, adequate to support the safe provision of the service?
- When was the service last reviewed and when is the next review scheduled?
Useful resources
- PDL CPD Activity – Look before you leap! A risk management guide to introducing a new pharmacy service
- PDL Scope of Practice Checklist
- PDL Incident Reporting 101
- NSW Health – News and notices
PDL members can call 1300 854 838 for advice and incident support from one of our Professional Officers. Supporting our pharmacist members 24/7.
