“I really think that when we look back in history, 2023 is a year that I would describe as a ‘monumental year’,” says Dr Fei Sim, national president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia.

“There have been a lot of conversations about funding, about 60-day dispensing, about anxiety levels for pharmacists – but why I say it’s monumental is because it’s actually more complex than that.

“If we look back, 2023 was really a year where we saw, and we are about to continue to see, fundamental change in the role, in the scope of pharmacists, and the expectations of pharmacists.”

She lists the issues that arose in 2023, from new professional practice standards to changes to opioid dependence therapy, to change for pharmacists working on-site in residential aged care.

“It was probably the only time in the history of pharmacy where we saw significant policy and health system changes, or policy proposals, that affect every single component of our profession.”

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