Amendments to Pharmacy Act Proposed

Proposed amendments to the Pharmacy Act, which would allow more health professionals to prescribe medications and allow pharmacists to refill out-of-province prescriptions, were tabled today by Health Minister Jamie Muir.

"These amendments will result in more timely treatment for patients and ensure that the legislation around the Pharmacy Act is more responsive to today's progressive and dynamic health care system," said Mr. Muir.

The Pharmacy Act was originally written in 1876. Although it has undergone numerous revisions, the new amendments will address three outstanding issues.

The scope of health professionals who can prescribe drugs in Nova Scotia is currently limited to medical practitioners, dentists or veterinary surgeons. Under the proposed legislation the list would be expanded to include optometrists and nurse practitioners.

Optometrists trained to treat specific eye diseases would be able to prescribe from a list of drugs rather than referring patients to ophthalmologists, general practitioners or emergency rooms, meaning patients could receive treatment as soon as they are diagnosed.

Nurse practitioners would also be able to prescribe some drugs as part of the Department of Health's Primary Care Demonstration Projects. Announced in November 1998, the projects will help the province to evaluate alternative methods of delivering, funding and managing primary-care services.

Operating within the confines of the projects, nurse practitioners would prescribe from a carefully selected and limited list of medications. The proposed amendment would only be effective for the duration of the demonstration projects. Any permanent change to the legislation would be based on the results of this initiative.

In addition, under the current legislation, pharmacists are unable to refill prescriptions written by physicians licensed outside the province. The amendments would remove this restriction, alleviating the types of problems recently encountered by patients in the Amherst area who see physicians in New Brunswick.