Pharmacists can aid in primary care

Have you ever gone to pick up a prescription only to discover you have no refills left? The pharmacy must contact your doctor for authorization before it can fill the prescription again. You may then wait days for a response before receiving your medication.

In community pharmacies, this is a very common occurrence. Pharmacists must rely on physicians to respond to their requests in a timely manner. Within the already busy and complex workflow of a pharmacy, these delays create challenges. Patients may understandably become upset or even go without important medication.

From my experience working as a pharmacy assistant, I understand, first, what care pharmacists can provide and, more importantly, that a disconnect of care exists between pharmacists and primary care physicians.

This fragmented care, shaped by limitations in pharmacists’ scope of practice and ineffective communication systems, creates challenges for patients and pharmacy teams. This disconnect affects the stability of the health-care system in Manitoba, as these limitations can flow upward to other issues.

Pharmacists are some of the most accessible health-care professionals. You can walk into any community pharmacy and speak with a pharmacist about significant health conditions, such as urinary tract infections, as well as medications or over-the-counter products almost immediately. In Manitoba, the expertise and ability of pharmacists to provide primary care has been underdeveloped and underutilized.

For people who cannot see their doctor often or don’t have one, getting medications can be challenging. According to Doctors Manitoba, while Manitoba has experienced an increase in doctors over the last few years, approximately 187,000 Manitobans, as of February 2026, did not have access to a primary care physician.

This can place additional pressure on other parts of the health-care system and make it harder for people to receive regular, preventive care. Lack of medications and doctors’ visits can lead to increased hospital visits and wait times, and high volumes of patients per physician can cause a lack of strong patient-health professional relationships.

Addressing such longstanding systemic issues is complex, but I have witnessed the importance of pharmacists’ role in delivering accurate and accessible medical care, and building caring, positive relationships with patients. There is capacity for pharmacists to contribute further to the primary care system in Manitoba.

The Manitoba government expanded pharmacists’ scope of practice in August 2026, allowing them to assess and prescribe eligible contraceptives. This is a step in the right direction. Not only does it make care more accessible for those who don’t have doctors or who can’t get timely appointments, it takes some of the load off overworked primary care physicians.

Further expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice has also been proposed through Bill 240, the Pharmaceutical Amendment Act, which was introduced in the legislature in October by Progressive Conservative MLA (and health critic) Kathleen Cook.

If implemented, this legislation could provide further opportunity to reduce pressure on higher levels of the system. Expanding pharmacists’ ability to assess and treat additional common conditions could be another step toward more accessible, team-based care.

Changing the organization of the Manitoba health-care system will not be straightforward and will require both patience and widespread attention to the needs of Manitobans and their health-care providers. Care must become more accessible, streamlined and team-based. Improvements in technology and record-keeping must be considered a necessary condition of pharmacist integration into primary care.

For example, when pharmacists need to clarify a prescription, they send a fax to a doctor’s office, often leading to long wait times and lost information. If pharmacists are to have an expanded scope of practice, they will need access to the health-care records of patients and easier, more effective ways of contacting doctors and other health-care professionals.

The goal here is not to “get more people through the system,” but to provide more meaningful, accessible care to all, in ways that share the load. In other words, we need to use the system more efficiently, trusting pharmacists and other health-care professionals to contribute their expertise while referring patients to other providers when necessary.

Other provinces have already moved toward more integrated and team-based systems. It is time to prioritize this kind of collaborative care and the expertise of pharmacists here in Manitoba.

Adalyn Neufeld is an undergraduate science student at Canadian Mennonite University with experience working in a community pharmacy.