REGULATORS will be urged by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia to recognise the training of pharmacists in a number of international jurisdictions, including the UK, to alleviate workforce shortages.
Addressing staffing issues being reported by pharmacy owners across the country, Guild National President, Trent Twomey, said there was a need to get more pharmacists from more countries into Australia's overseas pipeline.
"We're doing a big review of overseas skilled workforce migration into Australia," he said.
"As you know, New Zealand is the only country with professional reciprocity [with Australia].
"We'd like that expanded - bring back the UK... [and] there are other countries, like Singapore, that probably should be in that mid-tier category like Europe and Ireland, for example, that are not.
"We'll be meeting with the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC) and the Pharmacy Board of Australia, later this week [to raise these suggestions]."
Twomey's call for greater reciprocity for overseas training came after the APC announced that it was offering pharmacists trained in other jurisdictions access to a free skills assessment as part of the Federal Government's Migrant Skills Incentive Program (PD 02 Mar).
Under the scheme migrants who have "unrecognised or under-recognised skills" in pharmacy will be able to gain the necessary approval to join the workforce and contribute to Australia's post-COVID-19 economic recovery.
To be eligible for a free skills assessment with APC, individuals must: have not previously submitted a skills assessment application with APC, be living in Australia when they submit their application, and be on a permanent family, partner, humanitarian or refugee visa that was granted on or after 01 Jan 2019.
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