MORE than a million Australians have heard their doctor prescribe a daily dose of cholesterol-lowering medicine to reduce their heart attack risk.
But a medical leader has suggested ignoring standard prescription requirements for ''a week or two'' rather than give pharmacists the right to dispense emergency supplies of the drug.
The federal government's plan to allow pharmacists to dispense temporary supplies of the contraceptive pill and cholesterol drugs has fuelled the turf war between doctors and pharmacists.
The cholesterol drugs, costing the taxpayer about $1 billion a year, are among the most widely prescribed medications in Australia and their routine use has been credited with a significant reduction in cardiovascular disease.
In a letter to the Pharmaceutical Society, the Australian Medical Association's chair of therapeutics, Geoff Dobb, has attacked the government's dispensing change as an ''inappropriate'' incursion into doctor's work.
The government has introduced legislation to allow for pharmacists to dispense temporary supplies for patients whose prescription has run out and who are unable to renew it in time.
But Professor Dobb has declared there was no evidence of the need for the new ''continued dispensing program''.
The measure, he said, was not backed by ''any evidence that there are adverse outcomes for patients if they do not take lipid modifying agents for a week or two''. In that time, they could get to their doctor for a review of their prescription, Professor Dobb said.
''Far from improving patient outcomes, the program is likely to result in further delay by patients in seeking necessary clinical review by a medical practitioner, to the detriment of their health,'' Professor Dobb said in a letter last November to the society's president, Mr Grant Kardachi, which has been obtained by the Herald.
Experts confirm that patients prescribed cholesterol-lowering drugs, who have taken them regularly, can go without them for a week or two with minimal risk once the protective effect of the medication has taken hold over some weeks.
However, the former health minister, Nicola Roxon, in introducing the legislation changes said that the measure to ensure continuity of supply ''will ensure optimal health outcomes for patients''. The two medications had been chosen because they had a ''very good safety profile'', she told Parliament late last year.
The Pharmaceutical Society which, along with the Pharmacy Guild, has promoted the expansion of the pharmacists' role, has, under contract to the Health Department, developed protocols to ensure drugs are dispensed correctly.
Cholesterol-lowering drugs are available over the counter in some countries because of their relative safety.
Lynn Weekes, the chief executive of the National Prescribing Service, said there was probably low risk for patients who had taken the drugs regularly if they stopped for a few days.
The bigger issue, Dr Weekes said, was the risk that patients may get complacent, fail to to go back to the doctor and go without their medication over a longer period.
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