The province is trying to find ways to expand the role of pharmacists when it comes to front line care.
Minister of Health Sylvia Jones says the government is consulting with its partners on further expanding the ability of pharmacists to provide care by treating additional common ailments, administering more vaccines, and performing more point-of-care testing.
Pharmacy assessment of common ailments began in January 2023 and was expanded in October 2023. Over 4,600 pharmacies, or 99 per cent of all Ontario pharmacies, are now participating in the program.
Now, the province is considering allowing pharmacists to expand their role in primary care, including:
- 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 burden on nurses and doctors
- improving the MedsCheck program to support health outcomes and reduce unnecessary service duplication and administrative red tape, while continuing to protect patient choice.
At this point it appears patients who choose to receive vaccines in a pharmacy will need to pay for the vaccine and the administration for any shots other than COVID-19 and influenza vaccines.
Jones says giving pharmacists more responsibilities will help ease the burden on primary care providers, allowing family doctors time to help people with more complex needs.