Pharmacist prescribing - Forum

In June 2018, the Pharmacy Board of Australia (the Board) hosted a pharmacist prescribing forum to consider the need and opportunities for expanding pharmacist involvement in prescribing.

The forum explored the potential expanded role of pharmacists in prescribing in order to contribute to supporting access to medicines in Australia, which aligns with the objectives of the National Scheme, including 'to enable the continuous development of a flexible, responsive and sustainable health workforce and to enable innovation in the education of, and service delivery by, health practitioners’.

A wide range of stakeholders attended the forum, including hospital and community pharmacists, government health department representatives, professional association delegates, state and territory pharmacy authorities, consumer representatives, education providers, the Australian Pharmacy Council, New Zealand government advisers, pharmacists with firsthand experience as prescribers overseas, Pharmacy Board members and Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) staff.

Read more in our news item.

Following the release of the Pharmacist prescribing forum report, a discussion paper was published to seek the views of the pharmacy profession, other health professionals and the public about the need for and potential models of pharmacist prescribing. The discussion paper and stakeholder submissions to the consultation are published on the Board’s website under Past consultations.

Forum resources

A report about the forum was published in October 2018 – Pharmacist prescribing forum – Report (2.14 MB,PDF).

Before attending the June 2018 forum, attendees were given the following background paper to review:

• Pharmacist prescribing forum – Background paper (1.07 MB,PDF)

The Board commissioned the following two reports about prescribing which informed the development of the background paper:

• Pharmacist prescribing in Australia: An exploration of current pharmacist capabilities, required education and training to prescribe medicines and a process for moving forward, Nissen L, Kyle G, Cardiff L, Rosenthal M, Shah S, 2017 (1.35 MB,PDF)
• Pharmacist prescribing in Australia, Nissen L, Lynne T, Cardiff L, Bettenay K, 2015 (1.04 MB,PDF)