As your Member of Provincial Parliament, one of the key priorities I hear about from local constituents is the need for convenient access to health care close to home. Whether building new hospitals in local communities across Niagara, reducing wait times for surgeries and diagnostics or expanding access to care at home to age in place, our government continues to increase access to care.
One of the ways our government is increasing access to care is by allowing local pharmacists to treat and prescribe medications for common medical ailments. The province first expanded care at local pharmacies in January this year, allowing local pharmacists to treat and prescribe medications for 13 common ailments, including hay fever, oral thrush, pink eye, dermatitis, menstrual cramps, acid reflux, hemorrhoids, cold sores, impetigo, insect bites and hives, tick bites, sprains and strains and urinary tract infections.
As of October 1, patients are now able to visit a local pharmacy to receive prescriptions for an additional six common medial ailments, including acne, canker sores, diaper rash, yeast infections, parasitic worms and nausea and vomiting in pregnancy.
Justin Bates, CEO of the Ontario Pharmacists Association noted: “We are already seeing the tremendous impact that the minor ailments program has had in helping to more conveniently connect Ontarians to care. Since the program launched earlier this year there have been more than 400,000 pharmacy assessments for minor ailments.”
The expansion of care at local pharmacies has been a provincewide success and Ontario is now one of the leading jurisdictions in Canada providing convenient health care services through pharmacies. Since the start of this year, 89 percent of Ontario’s pharmacies have participated in the program. Participating pharmacies in the Town of Pelham including Shoppers Drug Mart, PharmaChoice and Boggio Pharmacy in Fonthill, and Fenwick Pharmacy in Fenwick.
As with visiting a family physician or walk-in clinic, Ontarians can receive a prescription from their local pharmacist for common ailments with just their Ontario health card. The cost of the medication being prescribed will continue to be paid for by people directly or through their drug benefits plan.
This expansion of care is part of Ontario’s Your Health Plan for Connected and Convenient Care, which focuses on providing people with a better health care experience by connecting them to more convenient options closer to home, while shortening wait times for key services across the province and growing the health care workforce for years to come.
It’s one more way to ensure local residents in Niagara West have access to health care close to home.
Sam Oosterhoff is MPP for Niagara West.
