Media release from Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand

The Pharmacy Guild of New Zealand (the Guild) welcomes the establishment of the Quality & Safety Improvement Commission and strongly recommends the Minister of Health appoints a community pharmacist as a member.

The establishment of the independent, stand-alone Crown agency was announced today. It has been proposed that the Commission has seven members, will be led by clinicians and will report directly to the Minister.  

"The Guild welcomes the establishment of the Commission and the savings it proposes for the health care system," says Annabel Young, CEO of the Guild.

"The Guild believes that as the medicines experts, community pharmacists are well placed to provide expert advice as part of the Commission," she says. "Prescription error rates are both a safety and a cost issue for health care. Pharmacists want to lead the way in finding remedies to this problem.

"Community pharmacists' primary concern is patient safety and they are trained to ensure that patients receive the correct medication, every time," she says.  "They are responsible for providing specialised advice to patients and other health professionals about how to use medicines safely and effectively.

Minister Ryall says errors cost the health system up to $600 million a year and that the Commission could help save New Zealand about $100 million per year.