On Monday Health Minister Mark Butler and Pharmacy Guild President Professor Trent Twomey jointly announced the expansion of the upcoming pharmacist prescribing trial for uncomplicated urinary tract infections and both initiation and resupply of hormonal contraception, with the government now promising to fund pharmacist consultation costs and subsidise scripts for all women, not just those on concession cards, as had been previously planned.

In keeping with previous messaging, the Albanese government and the Guild pitched the move as a win for women, offering cheaper and easier access to medicines and “providing substantial savings of up to $38 per visit and women will pay no more than $25 per script.”

Consultations for uncomplicated UTIs and hormonal contraception will be free at eligible community pharmacies, and PBS-listed medicines will be provided at PBS-equivalent prices, the Guild said.

“This is a landmark reform for women’s healthcare in this country. It provides women more choice in when and where they can access safe and affordable primary healthcare,” Guild president Professor Twomey said.

‘A policy dressed up as a trial’

Dr Aniello Iannuzzi, chair of Australian Doctors Federation, said the comments from the Guild suggest this is actually a new policy, rather than a trial.

“We are concerned that this is not in fact a trial but rather a new policy dressed up as a trial. If it is a trial we look forward to seeing details of the methods of the trial and how it will be kept objective,” he said.

Professor Karen Price, past president of the RACGP and an adjunct professor at Monash University called it “performative political theatre,” noting the Guild’s well documented habit of donating to political parties.

She said the move put political and commercial interests above women’s interests.

“We now have a government that’s actively fragmenting care, whilst saying that general practice is the bedrock of the health services,” Professor Price said.

That contradiction seems to hinge on the argument that any access is good access. “Well, it’s not if it’s providing a less safe alternative, a less comprehensive alternative, and a less coordinated alternative,” she said.

“Women being offered a lesser trained person in a retail environment is a real insult to women and girls,” Professor Price said.

To that end, Professor Price also questions the narrow view of ‘women’s health,’ focusing on reproductive organs and function, rather than women’s health in its entirety.

“When I see someone needing contraception, there’s a very fulsome discussion about relationships, about potential intimate partner violence, about risk factors, about family history, about checking that that is the most appropriate contraception for them, and so on. So it’s actually quite a full-scale consultation that normally takes me 30 minutes for someone who might be renewing. And for a younger woman, it might take me 45 minutes for a new prescription or recommendation, because not everything in contraception is a prescription,” she said.

Dr Iannuzzi also criticised the lack of comprehensive care.

“This trial reflects a commodification of healthcare and fails to take seriously the issues of diagnosis and therapeutics. Even though UTIs and scripts for contraceptives are common, a good doctor evaluates much more than just the patient request,” Dr Iannuzzi said.

“It is another blow to proper clinical history taking, physical examination and proper use of diagnostic tests,” Dr Iannuzzi added.

RACGP president Dr Michael Wright also said the government appeared to be prioritising politics over women. “We’re increasingly worried about women being the subject of these pilots,” he told NewsGP.

“Women’s health is not a pilot project, and it looks like these decisions are putting politics ahead of patient safety and ahead of the evidence.”

A recent report by the Sax Institute, commissioned by the RACGP, demonstrated substantial gaps in the evidence for pharmacist prescribing with regards to safety and effectiveness.

The new pilot is set to begin in early 2027 and will run for 12 months.

“Access to hormonal contraception without a GP visit will be included in the trial so long as it is permitted under the rules of the state or territory in which it is provided,” the government said.

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