Some Canberrans soon won't have to see a doctor to get the contraceptive pill, but the pharmacy scheme doesn't cover everyone

Canberra pharmacists can now give out the contraceptive pill to women, but not everyone can take part.

The ACT has become the latest jurisdiction to let pharmacists prescribe the oral contraceptive pill directly to patients, but the range of patients eligible to take part is much more restricted than in other states and territories.

Five pharmacies in the ACT will be able to resupply the pill as part of a year-long trial program intended to ease pressure on GPs and emergency departments.

Capital Chemist Charnwood pharmacist and managing partner Samantha Kourtis said every day she talked to people in the community who could not get in to see their doctor.

"I don't want people having to drive to hospital emergency when they have a condition that I can work [on] with them," she said.

But Ms Kourtis said the accessibility of the scheme was much more limited than in other jurisdictions.

"The cohort is quite small, and that's to ensure we are providing safe access to low-risk medications.

"And in a private consult with the pharmacist, we check their BMI, their smoking status, their blood pressure, and we go through a long list of other contraindications."

The safeguards are in place after an emphatic outcry from doctors groups who withdrew their support for Australia's first pharmacy scope of practice trial in North Queensland last year, amid claims the state's model included no GP oversight. 

Trial extended from pilots allowing pharmacists to prescribe UTI medication

The idea to allow pharmacists to supply some oral contraceptives without a script from a doctor is the brainchild of the powerful lobby group the Pharmacy Guild. 

It stems from previous pilot programs that gave pharmacists responsibility to prescribe antibiotics for uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs), which was met with fears by doctors that it would induce population resistance to antibiotics.

"It's usually after hours or on the weekend."

The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners NSW-ACT branch has welcomed the tighter restrictions of the oral contraceptive trial as a way to roll out a "better" model in the ACT.

"[But] my main concern with a trial like this is that people don't see their GP for routine or opportunistic care," incoming chair Dr Rebekah Hoffman said.

Dr Hoffman said she was also concerned about the risks of fragmented care when pharmacists did not share patient information with GPs.

"I know myself I haven't actually received any communication back from either the UTI or OCP trial [so far] in New South Wales," she said.

Only eight types of the pill available under scheme

Like other jurisdictions, consults are user-pays, costing patients between $20 and $30 which is not covered by the ACT government or Medicare.

The trial also only allows pharmacists to prescribe eight types of pills from a spread of around 50 usually available to GPs.

If a patient does not meet the criteria or an alternative form of contraception is more appropriate, they are referred back to a GP.

Ms Kourtis said contraception was not a new area for pharmacists, who had been supplying emergency contraception, such as the 'morning after' pill, for decades.

"Pharmacists for decades have been talking to women about sexually transmitted infections, about consent, we've been dealing with domestic violence, we've been dealing with rape, we've been dealing with the risk of infections, we've been dealing with unplanned pregnancies," she said.

The ACT government has flagged the trial will likely be expanded to include treatments for skin conditions.

But Chief Health Officer Kerryn Coleman said the expansion would require better integration with the territory's digital health record system.