Speaking with Carlene McMaugh the host of the AJP Podcast, Chris Brooker reflects on the biggest stories of the last 12 months and discusses the potential key issues facing the pharmacy sector in 2025. 

Tensions between the community pharmacy sector and the federal government were at a high at the start of 2024, following the introduction of 60-day dispensing in September 2023 (1 min 04). 

Despite the hostile relationship between the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and the government, Brooker noted that there were several successes for the profession, with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia securing a “very good” deal in the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement (2:14), while the profession’s scope of practice continued to expand. 

The implementation of the National Immunisation Program Vaccination in Pharmacy (NIPVIP) program in January was another ‘win’ for the sector and the community, despite dire warnings from medical groups (3:09). 

Other topics discussed include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

Speaking with AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh, Simpson says that “Whilst it’s a hot topic now, it isn’t new” – “it’s one of those things that actually, you can trace it back a long way past. You can walk backwards in those footsteps.”

And South Australia is leading the way, he says.

“So if you attend South Australian hospital emergency departments, your pharmacist might be writing the medication chart and the doctor’s signatory is not necessary on that because the pharmacist has actually been credentialed to chart those medicines.

“There’s a lot of huge amount of value and changes happen in the autonomous prescribing space too.

“I think it’s really worth looking at what that partnered prescribing process delivers because that’s not a limited formulary. That’s everything from lithium to warfarin to beta blockers to whatever that patient needs…

“Scope of practice and top of scope have [been] some of the real buzzwords of the year, but whether it’s community hospital or whatever sitting, we’re all looking to get the most out of our practitioners and I think with that decade long experience of those collaborative models from hospital-based settings, those are now rippling out to the entire healthcare sector.”

More highlights include:

00.52: “It’s been a big year, hasn’t it?” Simpson talks about the mainstreaming of once cutting-edge concepts in pharmacy – plus the other big stories of 2024

06.24: Why collaborative prescribing delivers “so much bang for buck”

08.10: What were pharmacists’ biggest concerns in 2024?

12.17: What were 2024’s biggest challenges?

16.16: What’s ahead for 2025?

19.15: Simpson and AdPha’s proudest moments in 2024

26.24: Was 2024 what you expected?

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

Speaking with AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh, Sim described 2024 as a year of two halves. 

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) president noted that while there were a number of key successes for the pharmacy profession over the last 12 months, the first half of the year was an uncertain time for pharmacists (1 min 48).

However, she said the signing of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement (8CPA) and the PSA’s Strategic Agreement on Professional Pharmacist Practice, gave the profession cause of optimism in recent months. 

Topics discussed include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha’s) national president, Tom Simpson, and vice president, Kate O’Hara, chat with AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh about a challenging year – from the current fluid shortages to changes to scope.

They begin with the change of identity for AdPha, which O’Hara says will hopefully useful to highlight the work that its members actually do… both in and out of hospitals.

People in governance roles in the organisation get a lot of requests for advocacy, she tells McMaugh – “And when we try and raise our voices or get in the room, people are like, ‘oh, well you just do hospital’.

“And it’s sometimes hard to complete the work that our members are asking us to do because of the different locations and the different roles that they practice in.

“And it’s hoped by having a name that’s a little bit wider that it’ll be easier for people to say, okay, this isn’t just about hospitals, and we can do that work that members are asking us to do,” she explains.

Meanwhile Simpson talks about the many other changes which took place over the year.

“[M]edication shortages and currently the fluid shortages are very much top of mind for the kinds of challenges that we’re all dealing with,” he says. “I think I looked at the TGA website and there was something like 500 shortages just the other day…

“It has been a year of opportunity, I think, as well. We’ve got state and federal governments very focused on the value that pharmacists can deliver to the health system in a way like we’ve never had before, and a willingness to remove some of those barriers to top of scope practice.

“So I think for us, it’s been a year of really driving that conversation forward and advocating for the kinds of practices that we know we can deliver in a range of care settings that make the best use of our expertise.”

Podcast highlights:

00.58: Why was the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia’s identity changed to Advanced Pharmacy Australia?

04.11: ‘A spectrum of responses’ – how members reacted

06.46: What are AdPha’s goals – and do they differ from SHPA’s?

10.30: What pharmacists don’t know about AdPha

13.39: What does the future look like?

14.37: The challenges and successes of 2024 – ‘It’s been an interesting year’

21.41: A look at 2025

23.22: Kate O’Hara reports on the FIP conference in Cape Town

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

In this episode of the AJP podcast, Carlene McMaugh talks to Adam Livori about his experiences in differing areas of pharmacy, and how he has gone about ‘pivoting’ between different roles.

Among the topics covered are:

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

AJP Podcast host Carlene McMaugh speaks with Dr Jenny Gowan, an industry stalwart and long-time AJP contributor who was honoured with the Member of the Order of Australia earlier this year.

“Try and keep yourself focused, and it’s really good to be multi-skilled and multidisciplinary,” Gowan advises, before discussing the Aged Care Onsite Pharmacist role and what those who are about to test its waters need to know.

“I think it’s really important that people who are venturing into this field know a little bit about what is currently going on and where the transition is going,” Gowan says.

“So where the opportunities are and where the barriers are.”

Noting that after a GP receives a pharmacist’s report and develops a plan, “which takes them a very little time in comparison to the time it takes us and guess what? They get paid more than us, but that’s a bone of contention,” Gowan explains that turnover in aged care can be fast.

“We don’t have time to do as many as we’d like because we find the turnover in the nursing homes is fast. There’s a lot of people that move on because it’s their final resting place, and we’ve really got about a 25% change at least every year if not more.”

And the problem isn’t lack of interest, or lack of training. Gowan explains what the main limitation is with ACOP, and how she manages it.

Also:

09.32: How does one get involved in aged care pharmacy?

12.52: The process of training

14.06: Why consider a role in aged care?

16.05: The future of the aged care role

26.23: How does this align with scope of practice?

29.05: Gowan’s advice for pharmacists on aged care

32:02: Aged care and pay

37:17: Understanding patients

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

In this podcast, Kylie Neville, PDL professional officer, is joined by two highly experienced industry leaders in pharmaceutical compounding: Patricia Ullmann and Marina Holt.

They delve into topics relating to risk awareness and risk management in compounding of medicines. The aim is to highlight areas where practitioners can improve safety and reduce unwanted outcomes through greater focus on good compounding practices.

Among the topics covered:

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some

minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here to access the full archive of AJP podcasts 

AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh discusses the Complete Care Pharmacy model with pharmacy owner, Kristina Fox. 

The Rosny Park pharmacy reopened under the Complete Care Pharmacy brand in September 2023 with a unique design (1 min 13) that Fox says is already delivering for patients and the business.  

Topics discussed include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

Professor, pharmacist and current acting director of the Monash Addiction Research Centre Suzanne Nielsen says it’s important to get key information to patients who need it… and tailored to them.

Nielsen talks us through the development of the Opioid Safety Toolkit, which was designed specifically for patients prescribed opioids for pain, and the importance of raising awareness of opioid side-effects and reliance.

“Very few” people who might meet the criteria for opioid use disorder had ever asked for help, or even spoken to a health care provider about their concerns, she says.

“For whatever reason, those good conversations were just not happening,” Nielsen says. “And a lot of that we understand was around things like either stigma or patient fear or just a lack of awareness.”

03.38 – How can pharmacists support these patients?

5.05 – How can patients easily navigate through the toolkit?

06.40 – How have patient attitudes towards naloxone changed since deaths with novel synthetic opioids?

09.13 – What sort of questions might people as about naloxone?

12.13 – How can pharmacists encourage at-risk patients or their families to get naloxone?

14.55 – How can pharmacists be resourced?

18.13 – How to have these conversations with patients

21.29 – What about people taking opioids long-term?

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh discusses the Eight Community Pharmacy Agreement (8CPA) and the Strategic Agreement on Pharmacist Professional Practice, with the former Pharmacy Guild of Australia vice president, Paul Sinclair. 

Having led the Guild’s negotiating team for the 6CPA, Sinclair lauded the 8CPA negotiating team for their efforts in securing the new deal with the government (1 min 28). 

Other topics discussed include: 

You can access the full transcript of this podcast here. While we endeavour to ensure all important words and phrases are correct, please note there may be some minor inaccuracies in the transcription.

ACCESS PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Go here for the full list of active AJP podcasts. These can also be accessed via Apple Podcasts and Spotify