Dr. Susan O'Dwyer:

I think we are looking at amendments to certain legislation. It is a matter of recognising that pharmacists have the skill set to do therapeutic substitution. When therapeutic substitution happens in practice, a pharmacist and a doctor will have a conversation about the patient being prescribed a specific agent for the particular condition and what we can give to do the same thing to treat the same condition. Often it is the pharmacist who makes that decision, but he or she works in conjunction with the medical practitioner, be that in a hospital or in the community. The skill set is there, but it is just a matter of the enabling legislation. At the moment that can be done under emergency supply legislation, but that is quite restrictive in terms of the quantity of medication that can be given, when it can be given and the rules that apply. It is just a matter of looking at whether there are any other ways in which that legislation can be tweaked slightly to make it just a little more all-encompassing.

The serious shortage protocol could be done under that legislation in that, with the serious shortage protocol, the clue is in the name. It is in use only when there is a serious shortage. That means there is none of the particular medication in the country to treat the patients who need to be treated with it, but there is an alternative, the pharmacists know what it is, we have a protocol and we can work through it. That could be time limited. It could be governed quite strictly as to what that would be. It is just a matter of the introduction of it. There are tweaks that can be made.

As for minor ailments and contraception, we are talking about something relatively straightforward. In fact, it has been done on numerous occasions through the Covid-19 pandemic. Whenever there is a new Covid-19 vaccine or an indication for a vaccine, those adjustments are made within Schedule 8. That is a very easy and quick process, I believe. Maybe it is easy for me to say that, but that is one of the pieces or the facilitators we think could bring change quite quickly.