David Peachey MPS
Professor Sarah Blunden[/caption]
Yesterday (Tuesday 7 October), PSA, in a joint event with Consumer Healthcare Products Australia (CHP Australia), showcased the breadth of pharmacists’ skills and roles at Australian Parliament House.
So who were the pharmacists walking in the corridors of power? And what were their messages for Australia’s politicians?
Australian Pharmacist spoke to some of the trailblazers who made the trip to Canberra for the event.
Hannah Knowles MPS – hospital pharmacy
Flying the flag for hospital pharmacy, Hannah Knowles, Advanced Pharmacist in Patient Flow at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, spoke to politicians and delegates about the rapidly evolving role of hospital pharmacists – including leading the Pharmacist Collaborative Medication Prescribing Pilot in her hospital.
Anna Theophilos MPS – community pharmacy, vaccination
Anna Theophilos, community pharmacist, PSA’s Vaccination Ambassador and owner of TerryWhite Chemmart Surrey Hills South (Melbourne), had one main message for politicians: it’s time to end the jurisdictional vaccine lottery.
Drawing on 17 years’ experience, Theophilos highlighted the breadth of community pharmacy services she provides, anchored by immunisation.
Using her ‘spin-to-win’ wheel, Anna highlighted the inequity experienced by patients across Australia, with regulations preventing pharmacist immunisers being able to fully support the immunisation needs of the communities they serve.
“I hope they can see it’s common sense that all pharmacists, regardless of where you practice, can vaccinate according to the Australian Immunisation Handbook. All Australians deserve the same access to vaccinations regardless of where they live.
Deborah Hawthorne FPS – consultant pharmacist
Deborah Hawthorne is well known as a rural pharmacist specialising in consultant practice, diabetes education and aged care. She shared with politicians her experiences of visiting people’s homes to provide Home Medicines Reviews and the benefits patients experience from this service.
Reflecting on the event, Ms Hawthorne hoped her passion for Home Medicines Reviews (HMRs) would make an impact.
‘I’m excited about sharing the role of pharmacists providing HMRs across the country. There is so much more we need to do and we need to be supported [by governments] to do it.’
Jaimee Anderson MPS – First Nations health/ diabetes education
Credentialled Diabetes Educator and pharmacist at Wurli Wurlinjang Health, Jaimee Anderson shared the vital work she does supporting the health of First Nations people in Katherine.
The current PSA Pharmacist of the Year hoped the event would show more pharmacists are needed in more practice settings.
‘What I want politicians to take away is that pharmacists affect change at all levels of clinical care and need to be embedded in all levels of service,’ she said.
‘First Nations peoples have a greater burden of chronic disease. Embedding pharmacists in Aboriginal Health Services has been proven to help close that gap.’
Neil Petrie MPS – aged care
Neil Petrie travelled up to Canberra from Melbourne to provide insight into his work at Donwood Community Aged Care as an on-site pharmacist in aged care, solving medicine safety problems to improve quality of life for residents.
Speaking to AP, Neil reflected on how important it is to make sure political leaders learn more about the breadth of work pharmacists do.
‘Pharmacists have a lot of different roles, not just dispensing of medicines. Today was a great opportunity to showcase all the diversity of pharmacists’ roles for medicine safety in our community.’
Nod from a pharmacist MP
Speaking at the event, the Hon. Emma McBride MP FPS reflected on the rapid evolution of the pharmacist profession in the past decade, seeing a range of new team-based pharmacist roles in primary care being created to drive medicine safety.
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She also paid tribute to the pharmacists in the room for their work and acknowledged all pharmacists and pharmacy assistants providing care to Australians across the nation.
