19 March 2007

DHB tactics place patient safety at threat - Greens

DHB tactics intended to force many rural pharmacies to shut down and be replaced with medicine depots are a serious threat to patient safety, Green Party Health spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

"The DHB plans are a classic example of putting short-term cost-cutting ahead of patient safety and the long-term health of New Zealanders.

"We need more, not less, involvement between pharmacists and consumers, in order to ensure that patients understand how to administer their drugs safely and correctly.

"About 3000 people are hospitalised each year due to adverse medicine reactions and if pharmacists are forced to provide advice by phone from remote medicine depots it is extremely likely these figures will rise," Ms Kedgley says.

"Many adverse reactions could be avoided with better monitoring and understanding, and greater involvement by pharmacists in giving consumers advice about their prescriptions, and checking for potential interactions between medicines."

The Green Party proposed before the last election that all high users of pharmaceuticals have medicine management plans, administered by pharmacists, to try to reduce the high incidence of adverse reactions.

"It is absurd to suggest that pharmacists' fees be frozen until 2009, a move that could force some pharmacies to close.

"What the DHBs are doing is discouraging patient care and medicines management, in the mistaken assumption that all pharmacists need to do is hand over medicines as if they were any other consumer item. In fact, pharmaceuticals are high risk and need careful management.

"About 3 percent of New Zealanders are taking more than four or five medicines at any one time, many for multiple diseases. It's essential we monitor these high users and ensure they are not developing adverse effects or drug reactions. Pharmacists are ideally placed to provide this advice and assessment.

"The reality is that if a patient isn't taking their medicine properly, or if there is a drug reaction, then the medication is more likely to harm than improve their health. Pharmacists are very knowledgeable members of the healthcare team and have the skills to review a patient's prescriptions as well as over-the-counter drugs," Ms Kedgley says.

ENDS

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