Pharmacy in 2023/24

Pharmacist prescribing

The Pharmacy Board of Australia updated its position statement on pharmacist prescribing, confirming that it doesn’t have regulatory barriers in place to prevent pharmacist participation in public health prescribing initiatives approved by states and territories.

We also announced the publication of the Accreditation standards for pharmacist prescriber education programs, funded by the Board. The accreditation standards are available as a resource for potential education providers to inform the development of education programs on prescribing. They are supported by a Performance Outcomes Framework and evidence guide to support education providers and accreditation decision makers. The accreditation standards will also ensure that graduates of an accredited education program meet the competencies in the NPS MedicineWise prescribing competencies framework (second edition), which describes the practice expectations of Australian prescribers regardless of profession.

We continued to work with government, stakeholders and the public to explore the impact of future developments in health service delivery by pharmacists to support safe practice in the public interest.

Supporting professional practice

The Board released a joint statement with the Medical Board of Australia and the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia in response to concerns about emerging models of care designed solely to provide customers with access to a predetermined medicine including compounded medicines.

The statement urged health practitioners to ensure that the framework for their practice is consistent with their professional obligations, and aimed to address concerns that some practitioners may be putting profit ahead of patient welfare.

Review of registration standards and guidelines

Public consultation on the review of the Guidelines on compounding of medicines was completed and the Board analysed stakeholder feedback to inform revised guidance. The guidelines will apply to pharmacists to support safe compounding of medicines that meet the unique needs of patients.

The Board also began a review of the following guidelines in preparation for consultation:

• Guidelines for dispensing of medicines
• Guidelines on practice-specific issues
• Guidelines on dose administration aids and staged supply of dispensed medicines
• Guidelines for proprietor pharmacists.

To inform the review of its registration standard on the supervised practice requirements for intern pharmacists holding provisional registration, the Board held a forum with stakeholders including pharmacy member organisations, state and territory health departments, pharmacy banner groups, schools of pharmacy, other regulators, as well as students, interns, preceptors and consumers.

Attendees shared their thoughts on the current internship model and options for supervised practice in the future. This feedback informed our drafting of revised proposals for supervised practice of interns, which we will test with stakeholders before we begin public consultation on a revised registration standard.

The Board collaborated with other National Boards in reviewing registration standards common to all health professions.

Stakeholder engagement

The Board continued its face-to-face engagement with pharmacists and stakeholders by holding meetings in Darwin and Perth. This enabled it to hear first-hand about local issues affecting pharmacists and their practice, and to discuss the Board’s role in protecting the public.

Mr Brett Simmonds, Chair