Media Release
13 March 2020
APP2020 Postponed
Organisers of the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference (APP) today announced that the 2020 event, scheduled to commence on Wednesday 18 March, will be postponed.
APP Chairman Kos Sclavos AM said the difficult decision was made based on a number of health and safety concerns. With over 6000 people due at APP, our number one priority is the health and safety of our community pharmacy workforce given they continue to be on the front line of the Nation’s response to Coronavirus.
“The ongoing disruption caused by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in global company travel restriction policies which are impacting upon speakers and the trade exhibition. In addition, the recently announced cases of Coronavirus on the Gold Coast, and the need to preserve the health and wellbeing of our frontline pharmacy workforce has resulted in the postponement of APP2020.
“The APP organising committee, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the Gold Coast Convention Centre have relied on expert health advice and information from State and Commonwealth Health Departments and public health warnings. As recently as yesterday, the Committee received briefings from both the State and Commonwealth Governments and are acting in accordance with their general advice.
“APP has a large footprint, not only within the community pharmacy sector, but throughout the entire Gold Coast community. The health and safety of delegates, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, conference centre staff, suppliers and the general public is of the utmost importance for us.
“We understand the impact this decision will have on the community pharmacy sector and the local Gold Coast economy. After hosting the event for the last 30 years, it saddens us deeply to take this action.
“The encouragement and dedication of our sponsors and exhibitors has delivered a proud history of APP and we thank all our supporters for their vision, commitment and dedication to the community pharmacy sector,” Kos said.
Kos added that a reduced program, called APP Online, is currently being developed for registered delegates to view streamed content and recorded sessions, online.
“While we work to confirm new dates for APP, ‘APP Online’ will offer as many of the APP face-to-face sessions, in a digital format, as possible.
“This means that delegates will still be able to hear the latest industry, business and clinical updates and record the CPD credits that they would have gained at APP.
“I would like to take the opportunity to apologise for any inconvenience caused to delegates, speakers sponsors, conference staff and exhibitors and welcome everyone to participate in ‘APP Online’,” Kos said.
A full program for ‘APP Online’ will be made available soon via www.appconference.com.
Given the significant costs incurred in preparing the event and the costs incurred by delegates, sponsors and exhibitors a partial rebate will be put in place and communicated to delegates, sponsors and exhibitors as soon as possible. While no obligation exists, the partial rebates are a clear sign of good faith by The Guild in Queensland and the APP Committee. We value our relationships and ongoing support before financial considerations. Given that COVID-19 is a communicable disease, no insurance claim is possible for the event.
Following public health notices and Governmental advice, conferences scheduled for later in the year are being actively reviewed. Once again, we thank all our supporters and apologises for the inconvenience.
Source: The Pharmacy Guild.
