Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy healthcare by numbers

THE Australian Health Practitioner Regulatory Authority (AHPRA) Pharmacy Board has published a pharmacy-specific statistical summary and a report from the Chair that covers the work of the Board over the 12 months to 30 Jun 2019, including its consultation around pharmacist prescribing (PD 10 Jan).

The report covers the usual statistical data around the profession.

Of the almost 750,000 registered health practitioners in 2018-19, 31,955 were pharmacists, up 2.7% from the prior year (31,108).

The largest cohort is found in the 25-39 year age bracket, with 427 still practising over the age of 70 years, and 62.8% identifying as female.

The percentage of pharmacists against whom notifications were received by the Board was 1.8% for 2018-2019 versus 1.7% for all health practitioners, both figures insignificantly different from the prior year (1.9% and 1.6% respectively).

About half of all cases required no further action (52%) while 29% received a caution or reprimand, with 1.5% having their registration suspended or cancelled.

The spread across the states was roughly in line with population numbers.

The major exercise apart from all of the normal regulatory functions of the board was the hosting of the Pharmacy Prescribing Forum in Jun.

Following the forum, the Board published a report and opened a consultation with a discussion paper around possible frameworks for pharmacist prescribing, models of pharmacist prescribing of Schedule 4 and Schedule 8 medicines and related issues of education, legislation and competency.

This resulted in an ongoing analysis which is expected to generate a report next year around the degree of support for prescribing by pharmacists and may include recommendations about any additional work required.

Other matters in the Board's summary included research and analysis, Board member induction and the new five-year accreditation agreement between the Board, the Australian Pharmacy Council and AHPRA.