The Strategy includes a Delivery Roadmap that outlines 80 initiatives, including in relation to workforce, to advance the overall objectives of the document.
Since 2023, the NDHS has advanced its vision for an inclusive, sustainable and healthier future for all Australians through a connected and digitally enabled health system. In the past year, significant progress has been made through initiatives like the National Healthcare Interoperability Plan, Provider Connect Australia and Path/Di legislative reform – but what does this mean for community pharmacists, and how are they answering the call?
A report, produced September 2024 by ORIMA Research, aimed to understand the best ways to support widespread use of digital health tools in community pharmacy. Through interviews and surveys with Guild members and a national patient survey, researchers investigated how digital health was tracking through the lens of both pharmacists and consumers.
The results show an industry ready to make the most of digital health solutions to improve business and patient outcomes. As embracing new technology becomes the norm of doing business in modern Australia, pharmacists are far from reluctant to innovate. Awareness, adoption and use of key digital health tools is widespread across the sector, and support for continuing advancements – including the increased use of electronic prescriptions – is also high.
Both pharmacies and patients felt positively about digital health’s potential to enable improved health outcomes, whether it’s through improved patient safety and continuity, increased efficiency and convenience, or more holistic health care provision and improved decision-making. Pharmacists also felt that the unique risks of digital tools, including the potential for privacy breaches and unpredictable system outages, were far outweighed by the tangible benefits, and even in some areas mitigated the risks inherent with manual processes.
For pharmacy operators, the main obstacle is uncertainty over whether they are using their existing digital health systems correctly or to their full potential. Pharmacies can instead find themselves operating at what feels like “peak inefficiency”, needing to find and fill any script their patient has been given with high investments in systems and staff trainings.
More education needed
On the other side of the dispensary, the report found almost 50% of patients had significant concerns about the privacy and security risks of using digital health tools, and about one third were worried about the reliability of technological systems. Despite a growing number of patients – around 30-40% – saying strong digital health capabilities were key considerations for them in choosing a pharmacy, the majority are wary of entrusting their health to systems that they don’t understand, or which aren’t fully implemented yet.
Though these pose barriers to expanding the use of digital tools, the report found that they did not reflect an inability or unwillingness from pharmacies to try. Attitudes, intentions, capability and capacity within pharmacies are not barriers to progress – rather, the report finds that pharmacists are “players in a system that is not yet mature enough for them to get the advantages or benefits from”. By focusing on improvements outside the pharmacy, including system functionality improvements and patient education, a more unified understanding of digital health and how to harness it is possible.
Achieving the vision of a connected health system will take collaboration across pharmacies, government, the Guild and other peak organisations. Members felt the government continued to have the biggest role to play, first by improving the functionality and efficiency of the current systems before actively driving their uptake. Ensuring systems and data interoperability, back-up processes, accessibility for patients and ease of use for pharmacists are some of the top priorities to build the foundation for strong systems and a smooth transition to unified digital health.
Advocacy, practical support and technical advice vital components
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s role as industry advocate was also considered a vital component to advancing the Strategy. Representing the perspective and expertise of community pharmacists can ensure that digital health tools are fit for purpose and intuitive for use in community pharmacy. Practical support, including technical advice and set-up, can also help keep pharmacy businesses operating at their best even amid change.
Community pharmacies are some of the most accessible healthcare destinations in Australia, with enormous potential to keep bringing better care to more people. Embracing the possibilities of the National Digital Health Strategy 2023-2028 can transform the industry into a leader of modern healthcare – and with the right support, pharmacists are ready to take the leap.
Learn more about digital healh in community pharmacies via the Guild website.
