The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) is concerned for patients after the Federal Government ignored expert advice from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) by allowing pharmacists to prescribe the oral contraceptive pill.

This “lobbyist-led” decision represents a serious failure of health policy that puts women’s health and safety at risk.

Women’s health is not a pilot project. This decision puts politics ahead of patient safety and sends a troubling message to Australian women that expert medical advice can be ignored.

When pharmacy prescribing of hormonal contraception was considered by the TGA in 2021, the independent regulator declined to down-schedule oral contraceptives, citing the risk of serious adverse health outcomes and concluding that pharmacist-only consultations were not sufficient to ensure patient safety over time.