Slow uptick for new prescription-writing capabilities at pharmacies

It’s been nearly a week since the province granted pharmacies an expanded scope to prescribe medication for a handful of minor ailments an effort to streamline healthcare while also reducing the burden on the entire system.

“So just very simple things that we can help out and we can possibly prescribe a prescription and offer non pharmacological things as well,” said Elisa Braccio, the store owner of the Manning Road Shoppers Drug Mart.

It’s a move being applauded by local hospital officials.

“Especially if they're not able to access primary care maybe after hours and on weekends when you have somebody's self limit like at a pharmacy,” said Karen Riddell, the chief operating officer at Windsor Regional Hospital. “But also that will help reserve primary care availability for other diseases or illnesses that are better served by a physician.”

That extra foot traffic hasn’t happened yet at Braccio’s Shoppers — but she tells CTV Windsor her team is ready.

“Pharmacists are very accessible. Our pharmacies are open outside of the regular nine to five Monday to Friday hours. So on a weekend, when the clinic might be closed, people have the option to come to us,” she said.

Braccio points to some studies which indicate this move could reduce trips to the emergency department by 30 per cent while making healthcare more convenient and timely.

“We're excited because this is something very new and different,” she said. “We do have a lot of people that come to us to ask these questions and you know, we couldn't help before so now I think they're going to be really happy about it will help a lot more people.”

Some believe it could be a test case for offering an even larger scope of prescribing abilities down the road.

“Thirteen is a good starting point. I think it will build confidence people see this done safely and effectively,” said Justin Bates, president of the Ontario Pharmacy Association.

Braccio says patients can book an appointment by calling or using an app, or simply walk in, but she warns wait-times may be a bit longer than normal.

“We do still have to manage the workload of prescriptions, as well as vaccines, medication reviews. So we're just kind of trying to be honest with the patients about wait times and hope that we can work together and be patient to you know, kind of triage like you said, as best as we can,” she said.

Braccio believes some smaller pharmacies may struggle to handle a larger case load, but her team can handle an influx of foot traffic.

“We’ll see how it goes. If it gets busier then yeah, we might need to add more, because we're kind of going to be like a clinic setting,” she said.