Updates

From 1 January 2023, pharmacists in Ontario are authorised to prescribe medication for common acute conditions that can be managed with minimal treatment or follow-up. They will be able to prescribe treatments for 13 common ailments including: allergic rhinitis, candidal stomatitis (oral thrush), conjunctivitis, dermatitis and others (see OCP 2023). The new prescribing regulations are part of a wider scheme to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice that began in 2019. Ontario is the second-last province in Canada to grant prescribing authority to pharmacists for minor ailments since Alberta did so in 2007. The expanded powers are widely welcomed to ease pressures on primary care physicians and emergency departments. Pharmacists have expressed some concerns about the lack of integration in the province’s fragmented information systems (for example, how information about treatments can be recorded or shared with a patient’s GP) that may inhibit their capacity to contribute to collaborative team-based case.