Pharmacy regulation at work: Protecting the public in 2015/16

14 Mar 2017

A profession-specific annual report summary that looks into the work of Pharmacy Board of Australia (the Board) over the 12 months to 30 June 2016 has now been published.

The report draws on data from the 2015/16 annual report by AHPRA and the National Boards. This information provides a snapshot of the profession as at 30 June 2016, and includes the number of applications for registration as a pharmacist, outcomes of criminal history checks and segmentation of the registrant base by gender, age and principal place of practice.

Notifications information includes the number of complaints or concerns received about pharmacists, matters opened and closed during the year, types of complaint, monitoring and compliance and matters involving immediate action.

Insights into the profession include:

• Of the 657,621 registered health practitioners in Australia in 2015/16, 29,717 were pharmacists (4.5% of the total registrant base). 
• 3,324 new applications for registration as a pharmacist were received. 
• Registration for the pharmacy profession grew by 2.4% during the year to 30 June 2016. 
• Student registration decreased by 1.5%, to 7,280 registrants. 
• 61% of pharmacists are women; 39% are men. 
• New South Wales was the principal place of practice for most pharmacists (9,171). 
• The Northern Territory (NT) was home to the fewest (217). 
• The age bracket with the most pharmacists was 25-29 (6,269 registrants). 
• 2,343 pharmacists were under 25 years of age; 115 were aged 80 or over. 
• As part of the registration process, 2,516 criminal history checks were carried out for pharmacists. Of 86 disclosable court outcomes, one required regulatory action. 
• 570 notifications (complaints or concerns) were lodged about pharmacists during the year, equating to 1.9% of the profession. 
• Immediate action to suspend or limit a pharmacist’s registration was taken 20 times in 2015/16. 
• There were 236 active monitoring cases, with most relating to suitability/eligibility for registration as a pharmacist. 
• 13 new complaints were made about possible statutory offences relating to pharmacy services. Almost all matters related to title protection or advertising concerns.

To download this report, or to view the main 2015/16 annual report and summary reports by state or territory, visit our microsite.

For more information

• Visit the AHPRA website 
• Lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200