Pharmacists and general practitioners have welcomed the expansion of antiviral medication, but say more could be done to improve access.
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Antivirals can help reduce the severity of COVID-19, and require prescription by a doctor or practice nurse.
The state government has provided GPs with $1 million in grant funding to help fast-track antiviral access for at-risk patients.
It is also providing underwriting financial support to community pharmacies in rural and regional areas to stock antivirals, so they don't have to bear the costs if they go unused.
State Health Commander Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said it would help GPs or their practice nurses pre-emptively review patients and flag those eligible for antivirals.
"This will mean that if the vulnerable patient is positive for COVID they can ring their participating GP to enable a script to be quickly sent to their pharmacy and begin taking this medication as soon as possible, reducing those serious impacts of COVID," she said.
Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Tasmania chair Dr Tim Jackson was supportive of the funding.
Dr Jackson said GPs had already altered their workflows to accommodate timely antiviral access, but the additional funding would allow them be more proactive and organised.
"You've only got five days between symptom onset and to commence the antiviral medication, so there's a short window that we need to assess people, and then get a prescription out to them and get it to the chemist," he said.
Dr Jackson said although having patients come in for pre-emptive consultations would be ideal, with appointments so scarce, people should continue using Rapid Antigen Tests.
"[People] need to have RAT tests on hand ... and if they get symptoms test straight away, and if they're positive then get in contact with their GP, because we've only got five days to get the antiviral prescription out to them."
Pharmacy Guild of Tasmania president Helen O'Byrne said the initiative would make it easier for vulnerable people to access medication.
But she wanted GPs to be able to pre-emptively write prescriptions, so if patients tested positive the script would be "written and in their hands".
Ms O'Byrne called for antivirals to be down-scheduled to allow pharmacists to prescribe them, as in New Zealand.
"Even though the access has improved, especially over the last three or four weeks, there is room for improvement, and this grant for GPs and also the grant for rural pharmacies to keep the antivirals on the shelves is a good move," she said.
Ms O'Byrne said providing pharmacies a subsidy for antiviral delivery would further improve access.
"We would like to see the state government supporting pharmacies to deliver the antiviral medications to patients. We have found that community pharmacy is really taking on the cost burden of the delivery process.
"When you are COVID positive, you can't go out, so the community pharmacy often needs to not only counsel the patient on the new medication, but also deliver it to their door."
Australian Medical Association Tasmania vice president Dr Annette Barratt said she was pleased the government recognised the hard work of GPs and nurses throughout the pandemic.
"Many GPs will already have been assessing patients for their vulnerability and having them flagged, but this initiative will encourage general practices that have not ... had capacity to undertake screening and pre-assessment of the relevant patient," she said.
Dr Barratt said the funding roll-out would vary from practice to practice.
"Some practices will bring on an extra staff member, such as an extra practice nurse to call people back, other times it may be a GP being able to assign half a day purely to assessing patients," she said.
People over 70 years old, 50 or older with two risk factors, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people 30 years or older with two risk factors, or aged 18 years or older who are moderately to severely immuno-compromised are eligible.
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