Ontario’s Deputy Premier and Minister of Health visits U of T Pharmacy, announces consultation to expand pharmacy care in Ontario

From left: Lisa Dolovich, Dean of Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy,  Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association, Hitesh Pandya, Chair of Ontario Pharmacists Association Board of Directors

Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, highlighted success of expanded pharmacist care since last year

Deputy Premier and Minister of Health Sylvia Jones visited U of T’s Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy on Wednesday, July 24, to announce consultations to further expand pharmacists’ ability to provide care by treating additional common ailments, administering more vaccines, and performing more point-of-care testing.

“Our government is continuing to expand our bold and innovative plan to make it easier for people to connect to the care they need, close to home,” said Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health. “Pharmacist prescribing has been a huge success in Ontario, and we are excited to work with our partners to help explore more opportunities to leverage pharmacies to connect people to care in Ontario, no matter where they live.”

The Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy is the top-ranked faculty of pharmacy in Canada and among the top ten globally. As the largest contributor to domestically trained pharmacists in Ontario, it plays a leading role in preparing highly-skilled, practice-ready pharmacists.”

“The ongoing and expanded role of pharmacists is fundamental to delivering accessible, high-quality care for Ontarians,” said Lisa Dolovich, Dean of Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy. “Pharmacists have consistently shown we can assess and treat common ailments, deliver vaccinations to help close vaccination gaps and improve health across our communities. Through innovative and future-oriented health education, pharmacy learners are trained and prepared to practice to our full scope and collaborate with other healthcare professionals.”

"Through innovative and future-oriented health education, pharmacy learners are trained and prepared to practice to our full scope and collaborate with other healthcare professionals."

In a news release, the Ministry of Health highlighted that since January 2023, Ontario’s pharmacies have provided more than 1 million assessments to treat and prescribe for 19 common ailments such as cold sores, pink eye, insect bites and urinary tract infections. Nearly all Ontario pharmacies are now participating in the program.

During the visit, Minister Jones met with pharmacy students working and learning in the newly opened Discovery Pharmacy, U of T’s dedicated and fully accredited campus pharmacy. Based in the atrium of the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, pharmacists and pharmacy students at the Discovery Pharmacy currently provide common ailments assessments and vaccinations to the U of T community.

“In hands-on learning environments like the Discovery Pharmacy, and through our Doctor of Pharmacy program, we are proud to train the next generation of pharmacists who are practice-ready and prepared to provide high-quality care to meet the needs of Ontarians,” said Dolovich.

According to the Canadian Pharmacists Association (CPhA), on average, people see their pharmacist five to seven times more often than their family doctor, making community pharmacies ideal locations for expanded healthcare services. People in other Canadian jurisdictions have benefitted from expanded pharmacy services for decades, including in Alberta, where pharmacists have been able to prescribe a wide range of medications since 2006.

As part of the announced consultation, the Ontario government is exploring more ways to leverage the skills and expertise of community pharmacists, including:

• treating and prescribing for 14 additional common ailments, such as sore throat, calluses and corns, mild headaches, shingles, and minor sleep disorders including insomnia
• ordering specific laboratory tests and performing additional point-of-care tests such as strep throat testing, to make it faster and easier to assess and treat common ailments
• administering additional publicly funded vaccines at pharmacies, including Tetanus, Diphtheria, Pneumococcal, and Shingles to increase access to care and save people a visit to the doctor’s office
• allowing pharmacy technicians to administer additional vaccines, such as Hepatitis A and B, Rabies, Meningococcal, and Human Papillomavirus
• identifying barriers in hospital settings that limit pharmacists from ordering certain laboratory and point-of-care tests, to make it easier for people to connect to care and reduce burden on nurses and doctors
• improving the MedsCheck program to support health outcomes and reduce unnecessary service duplication and administrative red tape, while continuing to protect patient choice.

Read the full announcement

Ontario Exploring More Ways to Expand Role of Pharmacists