Pharmacists shortage blamed for rampant bed block at hospitals

Health and Community Services Union state secretary Robbie Moore said pharmacists were critical in helping to get patients through the hospital on time, and staff shortages as well as program cuts meant there were sometimes no pharmacists available to conduct admission interviews or develop medication plans.

"We have over 40 per cent of pharmacy positions unfilled and that's led to the government making decisions to cut services," he said.

"They are going to cut pharmacy services to mental health, to our emergency department, and this is going to affect patient flow," Mr Moore said.

"It will mean people will need to be in hospital for longer, and this is going to add to the bed block situation, and further ambulance ramping."

Among the cuts implemented in the last week was the Partnered Pharmacist Medication Charting (PPMC) program at the Royal Hobart Hospital.

The program was implemented in the past few years, and allowed hospital pharmacists to work alongside other health professionals and be actively involved in medication planning.

According to Royal Hobart Hospital pharmacists Lauren Vanier and Zoe Thomas, the program was found to result in patients leaving hospital up to 15 per cent faster.

But the PPMC was cut in the last week at RHH due to the lack of available pharmacists to shoulder the additional workload.

It is understood that the PPMC programs at the Launceston General Hospital and the North West Regional Hospital remain, but are "heavily understaffed".

Mr Moore said the government could help ease the problem by invoking market allowance clauses in the existing enterprise bargain that would see pharmacists' pay increased.

He said increased pay could help the Tasmanian Health Service recruit more pharmacists and keep the ones they already have.

Ms Thomas said the recent parliamentary inquiry into ambulance ramping heard testimony that a 24-hour pharmacy service at the state's hospitals could save lives and help ease ambulance ramping and bed block.

"Now, we can't even staff a 10-hour pharmacy service here," she said.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said pharmacy services continue to be provided in hospital wards with the most acute and complex patients.

"Medication supply services continue to be provided to every part of the hospital," he said.

"We acknowledge significant ongoing challenges with hospital pharmacy recruitment, impacted by a nationwide shortage of qualified pharmacists and significant competition for that professional pool from both interstate jurisdictions and the community pharmacy sector.

"The Department has been making - and actively continues to make - every effort to recruit to vacant roles nationally and internationally."

He pointed out that the government's $1.125 million Allied Health Scholarship Program recruited 9 pharmacists last month, with the majority relocating from interstate.

"The scholarship provides an initial payment of $15,000 to help cover study fees, with a further $10,000 payment made upon completing three years of service in the Tasmanian Health Service."

The Health Department is also fast-tracking several initiatives, including expanding workforce development opportunities and ongoing investment in the pharmacy technician workforce through its Pharmacy Workforce Plan, the spokesman said.

The House of Assembly Inquiry into Transfer of Care Delays was commissioned last year, following scathing coroner reports into the deaths of two elderly woman that waited up to eight hours at the hospital for treatment after arriving by ambulance.