Provision of Opioid Substitution Therapy Services in Australian Pharmacies

Opioid dependence, despite being the subject of significant public funding, remains a costly burden to Australian society in human and economic terms. The most cost effective public health strategy for managing opioid dependence is opioid substitution therapy (OST), primarily through the use of methadone or buprenorphine. Supervised dispensing of OST from specialist clinics and community pharmacies plays a crucial role in enhancing compliance, monitoring treatment and reducing diversion. Australia compared with other countries in the world, ranks very high in illicit opioid use; hence there is a great demand for OST. The utilisation of community pharmacies for stable patients has many advantages. For public clinics, patient transfer to community pharmacies relieves workload and costs, and increases capacity for new OST patients. From a patient’s perspective, dosing at a pharmacy is more flexible and generally more preferable. Pharmacists stand to gain clientele, profit and receive small incentives from state governments in Australia, for their services. Yet, many “unmet needs” exist and there is a high demand for more involvement in OST service provision in community pharmacy in Australia. In the UK there has been a steady increase in community pharmacy provision of OST, and pharmacists appear ready to provide further healthcare services to these patients. The role of pharmacy in some countries in Europe, such as Germany, is less prominent due to their approach to harm minimisation and the complex, variable nature of OST provision across the European Union. The provision of OST by pharmacists in the USA on the other hand is of lesser frequency as the healthcare system in the USA encourages detoxification clinics to handle cases of illicit drug addiction. At a time when harm minimisation strategies constitute a topic of considerable political and public interest, it is important to understand the scope and variability of pharmacy involvement in drug policy in Australia. Hence, this review highlights the role of pharmacists in OST and explores the scope for expanding this role in the future