TORONTO, June 6, 2024
/CNW/ - Today, the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA)
concluded its inaugural national summit on the future of primary
care. The Summit, which brought together leading health-care
professionals, pharmacy leaders, policymakers and patient advocacy
groups, underscored the critical juncture at which primary care
finds itself in our country. As Canada grapples with growing demands on its
health-care system, the Summit highlighted innovative, pharmacy-led
models that are increasing access to care and identified key areas
that need to be addressed to better position pharmacists and their
teams as integrated primary care providers.
Together, our vision is a system where pharmacy is recognized
as a first stop in the primary care journey for all peoples in
Canada.
A focal point of the Summit was the transformative role
community pharmacists are already playing in delivering a broad
spectrum of primary care services. Beyond medication management,
pharmacists in all jurisdictions should be enabled to administer
vaccines and injectable medications, manage chronic diseases,
assess for a range of common ailments, conduct health screenings
and provide health education and advice.
Some of the recommendations to come out of the Summit
include:
- Governments should recognize and promote pharmacy as a first
point of primary care, particularly for the more than 6.5 million
people living in Canada without
access to a family physician or nurse practitioner.
- Governments, regulators and pharmacy groups should collaborate
to ensure all pharmacists can work to their full education,
ensuring all peoples in Canada
have access to a comprehensive range of services close to home.
- We must collectively support Canada's pharmacy workforce at every level.
These efforts should include easing the tuition burden for
students, improving licensing pathways and increasing initiatives
to recruit pharmacy professionals, with a particular focus on rural
and remote communities.
- To build pharmacy's capacity, all efforts should be made to
remove regulatory barriers that restrict the use of technology and
automation (e.g., central fill), allowing pharmacies to increase
efficiencies, which in turn enables pharmacists to focus on
providing care.
- Community pharmacy teams should be fully integrated into
provincial and jurisdictional health planning and strategies,
ensuring that they have access to complete patient information and
other systems.
- Interprofessional collaboration is key. By recognizing the
education and skills of all health professionals and supporting
innovative collaborative primary care models, we will be able to
put patients at the centre of every aspect of primary care.
Canada's pharmacy groups stand
ready to support true primary care transformation. By investing
adequately in community pharmacies, we can ensure that in 5 years,
Canada is leading the way in
primary care, rather than sitting at the bottom of the list.
About the Canadian Pharmacists
Association
The Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA) is the uniting
national voice of pharmacy and the pharmacist profession in
Canada. As pharmacists undertake
an enhanced role in the delivery of health care services, CPhA
ensures that the profession is recognized as a national leader in
health care, influencing the policies, programs, budgets and
initiatives affecting the profession and the health of Canadians.
More information is available at www.pharmacists.ca.
SOURCE Canadian Pharmacists Association