Imagine being able to have a blood test while picking up your medication, and then find out the results within 15 minutes without initially having to see a doctor then have pathology.

That could be the new normal in Australia with a pilot program currently underway at Orana Mall Pharmacy (OMP).

OMP Managing Partner Lisa Gibson has just returned from the annual Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference and Trade Exhibition (APP) on the Gold Coast from March 20-22.

APP brings together up to 7000 professionals from across the pharmacy industry for networking, upskilling, and professional development each year.

Lisa spoke on the panel on the opening day to discuss the role of pharmacists in primary care, particularly in rural and remote areas.

The panel focused on 'How Community Pharmacy Can Strengthen Their Primary Care Role Through Precision Health'.

Lisa was joined on the panel by Jeff Harrell (National President, National Community Pharmacists Association, USA), Dennis Bastas (Executive Chairman and Group CEO, DBG Health); Professor Trent Twomey (National President, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia); and fellow regional pharmacist Karen Carter (Owner, Carter’s Pharmacy Gunnedah and Narrabri Pharmacy).

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also took to the stage on the opening day of the conference to announce the prescription co-payment reduction, alongside Federal Minister for Health and Aged Care Mark Butler.

When Lisa spoke to the audience, she was able to inform them about the Orana Mall Pharmacy pilot program where people can have their cholesterol and HbA1c tested.

The HbA1c test is a blood test that can be used to help screen for and diagnose diabetes and elevated blood glucose levels in patients.

The testing was used to screen for patients with high cholesterol, diabetes, pre-diabetes or -- if they already have diabetes -- how well it is being controlled.

Orana Mall Pharmacy would “opportunistically screen patients” as they came in.

Some patients also heard they could have the testing for free and came in to be tested. It only takes around 15 minutes for the testing and results.

Of the 111 tests already conducted 90 people were referred onto a doctor for further review, including interventions for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, or pre-diabetes.

The pilot program started late last year and is continuing for another three months.

It is all about pharmacists being able to expand their scope of practice and safely follow protocols for referral when necessary. In this way pharmacists aim to take pressure off our already-congested doctors and primary health services.  

“Rather than going to your GP, getting a referral for pathology, having the blood test, and then waiting a few days, then going back to the GP, this is point-of-care testing,” Lisa explained. “In the pharmacy, you can have the testing and get your results all then and there.”

Pharmacists have been increasing their “scope of practice” in recent years and hope they can implement a program beyond simply screening.

As part of the pilot tests Orana Mall Pharmacy has a device for COVID-19, Influenza A, Influenza B, and strep throat testing.

Pre COVID-19, all pharmacists were generally allowed to do was flu vaccines.

Now can they vaccinate for COVID-19 and most vaccinations for overseas travel without the need for a prescription and seeing a doctor.

“We’re hoping for something like this... we could potentially have screening and then be trained to provide treatment,” Lisa said.

“We are hoping that in the future we can support other primary care health workers (general practitioners, nurse practitioners)… take the burden off them and allow them to work to the top of their scope, and manage more chronic and complex cases.

“We could potentially provide treatment because they have tested positive for COVID-19 or influenza or they need treatment for strep throat.

“Rather than just screen and refer, we are hoping one day we can screen and treat.”

This is an area Lisa has always been passionate about.

Lisa said her overseas colleagues in America and Canada can already do this.

“The point-of-care testing is an opportunity to bridge that gap and reduce rural disadvantage that our parents can sometimes face in comparison to our metro counterparts,” she said.

“It’s about making modern technology and practices accessible for people in rural areas.”

Automation, including robotic packing and dispensing, was another topic covered at the APP.

“Anything that is new and great in pharmacy features at the conference” Lisa explained.

“It’s a good opportunity to see what ways we can make community pharmacy better, in particular in rural and regional Australia”

Born and raised in Dubbo, Lisa did not know what she wanted to do when she finished school.

Her mother, Mariette, suggested pharmacy and Lisa decided to study pharmacy at The University of Sydney.

The former St John’s Primary School and St John’s College student came back to Dubbo from Sydney after university to complete her pharmacy internship. Lisa has worked at Orana Mall Pharmacy since 2004.

She rose up the ranks fast, beginning as a pharmacy student, then intern, then a registered pharmacist before becoming managing partner, a role she has been in for 18 years.