The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) launched its flagship vision for the future of Australian pharmacy practice, Pharmacists in 2030, alongside Federal Health Minister Mark Butler at PSA24.
An evolution of PSA’s vision for the future of the pharmacy profession, and the steps that need to be taken to get there, Pharmacists in 2030 maintains focus on medicine safety, expanding scope of practice and integration of pharmacists into collaborative care teams. It also has an increased focus on equity, medicines stewardship and pharmacist wellbeing.
PSA National President Associate Professor Fei Sim FPS said the launch built on the growing momentum behind the profession.
“Our profession has evolved significantly, and continues to evolve, to meet the increasingly complex health needs of Australians, our aging population and overstretched health system,” she said. “Our communities need us to continue down this path, they need all pharmacists doing more to support safe use of medicines and greater access to care when and where they need it.”
Future of pharmacists
The vision is a culmination of deep consultation with pharmacists, consumers and other health stakeholders. Informed by consumers across 14 in-depth focus groups, Pharmacists in 2030 describes how the care pharmacists provide will change over the next 6 years through the lens of both pharmacists and patients.
There are six key actions to realise this vision:
- Medicine safety – empowering and supporting pharmacists to reduce risks and minimise harm by advancing medicine safety in practice.
- Medicines stewardship – supporting pharmacists to actively lead and influence effective and judicious medicine use.
- Access to care – providing all consumers greater access to care by increasing and leveraging the accessibility of pharmacists to address unmet health needs.
- Equity – supporting pharmacists to meet the unique needs of vulnerable individuals and priority populations to address the disparity of health status through the provision of appropriate and responsive care.
- Workforce development – equipping and growing the pharmacist workforce to address existing and emerging health challenges.
- Sustainability – driving practice changes that increase the sustainability of the pharmacist workforce, increase social contribution and limit environmental impact.
These actions empower pharmacists to embrace their full potential to not only meet Australia’s surging health needs over the next six years, but also to build capacity to address health challenges beyond 2030, says Associate Professor Sim.
“Pharmacists in 2030 challenges the entire health ecosystem to collaboratively drive pharmacy practice to the next level, including policymakers, patients and consumers,” she said.
“We know that regulatory change alone is not enough. We need to address the cultural and system factors which hold our profession back and importantly, we cannot continue expecting pharmacists to do more with less.”
Realising the vision
Associate Professor Sim says the goal is getting to a point where practice is more efficient, relieving unnecessary administrative burden so that pharmacists can focus on delivering the care that patients need.
“Each one of us, in all areas of practice and specialisations have a role to play in realising this vision by 2030,” she said.
“The daily practice of pharmacists in direct patient-care roles will see the most evolution in their daily roles, enabled by pharmacists practising in non-patient facing roles, including academia, management and leadership.”
Pharmacists in 2030 is available to view at psa.org.au/pharmacists_in_2030.
