By Suzanne Greenwood, Executive Director
There are many joys in my role, and top of the list of one of the most inspirational things I get to do is to attend the annual Pharmacy Assistant National Conference.
At the start of this month, I had the pleasure of presenting an Industry Update to the delegates at PA2023. It was very empowering to be in a room of predominantly young women and to get to know them and their aspirations for community pharmacy and their role in caring for patients.
According to the last Census, pharmacy assistants make up half of the Australian pharmacy workforce, and so they are integral to the community pharmacy model of care. And of those 35,000+ pharmacy assistants, half are under 25 years old, and the overwhelming majority are female.
One pharmacy assistant I spoke with told me her ambition to have a career in pharmacy was born out of the care she saw her mum receive from their local pharmacy during her mum’s recovery from a serious burn.
The pharmacy had a wound care clinic that ensured her mum’s healing was optimised while they regularly cleaned, dressed and cared for the wounds. She saw, first-hand, the difference that professional, responsive and easily accessible clinical care could make and she wanted to be a part of that.
Another told me she came to work in pharmacy simply because she needed a job, any job. But now she can’t imagine working anywhere else. She loves that in the five years she has worked in a regional community pharmacy, she has gotten to know the patients and to understand their needs. Having this connection to those that the pharmacy cares for, she says, has given her work meaning and purpose.
All delegates were keen to learn about the future of pharmacy and what can be achieved through enabling pharmacists to work to their full scope of practice. Throughout the pandemic, community pharmacy has proven it’s essential to the responsiveness and resilience of Australia’s healthcare system and that it must be a part of creating greater capacity in primary care.
Pharmacy assistants were shoulder to shoulder, at the frontline, with pharmacists during the pandemic and so they understand the crucial difference that pharmacies can make. They talk to the woman who comes in with a UTI who is seeking relief when she can’t get in to see a GP for days. They meet the patient who has nowhere else to turn after business hours than the pharmacy or the hospital ED. Pharmacy assistants know the benefit that will come to their communities once full scope is introduced.
Yet front of mind for them right now is how do they support patients as the government brings in 60-day dispensing?
We workshopped questions that we anticipate patients will have such as ‘why doesn’t 60-day dispensing apply to my medicines?’, ‘how does 60-day dispensing affect my Safety Net?’, and ‘what’s the impact to my other medicines and pharmacy services?’.
It was also a delight at PA2023 to meet the State and Territory finalists of the Pharmacy Assistant of the Year Awards. My sincere congratulations to Colby Diek, the Queensland State winner who was also crowned the National Pharmacy Assistant of the Year, and to all the State and Territory winners:
- ACT Anneliese Hoff, Discount Drug Stores Tuggeranong
- NT Bridget Honner, Blooms the Chemist Bakewell
- NSW Morgan Burnside – Priceline Pharmacy Beecroft
- SA Mikailee Weltman, The Barossa Pharmacist in the Mall
- TAS Jemma Denholm, Good Price Pharmacy Warehouse, Devonport
- VIC Amanda Carlyle, Malmsbury Pharmacy, Malmsbury
- WA Alicia Ward, TerryWhite Chemmart, Kingsley
And finally, a special thank you to our Pharmacy Guild of Australia/Maxigesic 2022 Pharmacy Assistant of the Year, Terri Bakker from Tasmania. Terri has been a dynamic and inspirational ambassador for community pharmacy this last 12 months and was more than generous with her time to talk and share with all pharmacy assistants at the conference. Well done Terri, you have worn your crown with grace and passion.
Thank you to all the PA23 delegates who gave me an insight into what it takes to be an outstanding pharmacy assistant and for their drive for personal development and professional growth.
