'The docs don’t have a lack of customers': Ford defends plans for expansion of treatment at Ontario pharmacies

Signage explaining that Ontario pharmacists are able to provide prescriptions for minor health conditions is photographed at a Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy in Etobicoke, Ont., on Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Ontario pharmacists' new ability to assess and write prescriptions for conditions such as pink eye and uncomplicated urinary tract infections has led some doctors to express concern. THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his government’s decision to allow pharmacists to handle more ailments instead of doctors, saying it’s one of the most popular moves his government has made.

The Ford government announced last week that it has started consultations on expanding the number of health problems patients can get treatment for at pharmacies.

“You know, we're backlogged. The docs don't have a lack of customers,” Ford said at an unrelated announcement Monday when asked about criticism that the move looks like an effort to privatize health-care services. “If I had $1 for every time someone said ‘I need to get an appointment with my family physician, I can't get it.’”

The government started allowing people to consult with pharmacists for problems like cold sores, pink eye, and urinary tract infections in January 2023. Since then, the province says, pharmacists have completed more than one million assessments to treat and prescribe for those ailments.

The new consultations announced last week will look at expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice to include treating other problems such as sore throats, mild headaches, shingles, and sleep disorders like insomnia.

The move has been slammed by the Ontario Medical Association (OMA), as well as a chorus of doctors on social media.

In a recent post on X, the OMA said it is concerned the move will “fragment an already fractured health-care system” and jeopardize patient safety.

“While pharmacists are experts in medication, they are not trained to prescribe and make diagnoses,” the OMA said in its post. “Most people don’t realize that accessing care through alternative routes often doesn’t connect them to a physician or a larger health-care team. This fragmentation can leave patients slipping through the cracks.”

In other posts on social media, a number of specialists chimed in to say that they don’t accept referrals from pharmacists and that pharmacists are not trained, for example, to assess whether headaches could in fact be the result of more serious conditions such as brain tumors.

The OMA pointed out that “a staggering 2.5 million people do not have access to a family doctor” and called expanded scope of practice at pharmacies “a quick fix” to a problem that won’t be resolved without significant investments.

“We urge the Ontario government to exercise utmost caution with legislation that expands pharmacists' scope of practice beyond current limits in Ontario and Canada,” the group said. “Instead of expanding the scope, the government needs to start investing in team-based primary care, with physicians and other health-care workers each having a unique role, to provide comprehensive care. Bring back high-quality, safe and evidence-based care to our communities.”

But Ford defended the move Monday, saying the program has been popular.

“Over a million people have gone to pharmacies for 19 prescriptions, and we're expanding that. That's one million people that don't have to go to their family physician and end up in their office simply for something like pink eye or other areas that they need a prescription. It is one of the most popular things we've ever done.”

Health Minister Sylvia Jones, speaking alongside Ford, also defended the move Monday, saying it’s about improving access.

“We are doing the consultation currently to see what next steps we can do to ensure that people have access, but this is about convenience and access to minor ailments,” Jones said.

She added that regulation of health-care professionals ensures quality of care across treatment.

“We have 26 regulated health-care professions in the province of Ontario, all regulated to ensure patient safety and health-care safety and that work continues,” Jones said. “So to suggest that there are certain health-care professionals who don't at their core understand their responsibilities as a clinician is, frankly, a little concerning.”

Jones did not say last week how much pharmacists would be able to bill for the services and whether it would be similar to doctor billing. She said the current consultations do not include an examination of fees.

The OMA also pointed to a recent report published by the Ontario College of Pharmacists – the regulating body for pharmacists in Ontario – which said that pharmacists are under corporate pressure to meet growing volume targets for certain services. That report found that 34.2 per cent of respondents said they were under pressure to complete minor ailment assessments in under five minutes.