Pharmacists in Newfoundland and Labrador are asking the provincial government for authority to extend drug prescriptions, on grounds it would improve patient care and save money.

The pharmacists say millions of dollars are being unnecessarily spent because too many patients head to emergency rooms for treatment or prescriptions, when better alternatives could be made available.

Wayne Morris, president of the Newfoundland Council of Community Pharmacy Owners, said he sees about two or three people each day who must either face not taking medications or heading to hospitals for prescriptions.

The consequences, he said, can be serious.

"If somebody's on insulin and can't get it for a week or 10 days, [then] basically what you have to realize is that they are going to end up in hospital," said Morris, who owns a pharmacy in Grand Falls-Windsor.

Morris said pharmacists would like to be legally enabled to extend prescriptions that have already been written.

"It can help out the doctor, it can cut down on wait times at the outpatients department, and it can, well, help the patient get the drugs that he or she needs," said Morris, adding that a shortage of general practitioners is compounding things in many communities.

"It's getting harder and harder to either get a family doctor or get in to see your family doctor, because waiting times right now are anywhere from two weeks to six weeks," he said.

Other provinces, including Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, have already passed such measures, he said.

Those provinces do not allow pharmacists to extend prescriptions for addictive drugs — like painkillers — but pharmacists may approve refills of medications that include blood pressure drugs and insulin.

An official with the Newfoundland and Labrador government said Health Minister Ross Wiseman will discuss the idea with pharmacists at some point in the future.