The Pharmacy Board of Australia (PharmBA) requires interns to complete an accredited intern training program (ITP). This also applies to some pharmacists who qualified outside of Australia.
PharmBA has authorised us to accredit ITPs in Australia.
We're currently revising our accreditation process. We cannot accept new accreditation applications until this process is complete.
Time frame:
Cost:
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We accredit ITPs in Australia against the standards for pharmacy programs in Australia and New Zealand.
These standards ensure that ITPs help graduates to develop the knowledge, skills and attributes they need to begin practice as registered pharmacists.
We're currently revising our process for accrediting ITPs.
We cannot accept new accreditation applications until this process is complete.
Once we've finished the revision process, we'll update this page to outline the process of applying for accreditation.
To let us know you'd like to apply for accreditation, email us on accreditation@pharmacycouncil.org.au
We recommend telling us you intend to launch a new program early in the planning phase. This will help you to avoid any delays in being able to advertise your accredited program.
We cannot accredit your pharmacy intern training program after you've launched it.
We'll send and ask you to fill out our Notification of Intent to apply for accreditation of a new pharmacy program form.
We'll review your submission, and treat any information you provide as confidential.
If we'd like you to proceed, we'll invite you to apply for accreditation and email you the documents you'll need to do so.
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To apply for accreditation, fill out our Accreditation Application form. We'll send you this template when we invite you to apply.
As you fill it out, refer to our:
When you've completed the form, email it back to us on accreditation@pharmacycouncil.org.au.
We'll review your submission, and treat any information you provide as confidential.
If your application is not complete, we may return it to you and ask you to re-submit.
We'll establish a team of 2 suitably qualified and experienced Site Evaluation Team (SET) members. This team will assess your written application, as well as undertake a site visit. We'll also provide an APC auditor to support the SET.
For details on the SET members skills and expertise, see the Pharmacy Program Accreditation Guide.
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If we accept your application, we will arrange for the Site Evaluation Team (SET) to undertake a full site visit with you.
Please note that we may need to cancel or reschedule your site visit if we cannot guarantee the safety of our SET members for any reason.
We'll consult with senior staff at your organisation/university to arrange a site visit schedule. The visit will usually take around 2 days.
You're responsible for ensuring that all relevant staff and students:
See the Pharmacy Program Accreditation Guide for details about the structure of the visit.
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Before the end of the site visit, the SET will meet with your Program Lead/Head of School to present their initial findings about the program, including:
Within 20 days, the SET will prepare a draft report of their findings, which your Program Lead/Head of School will be able to check for any factual errors.
The SET will then consider any comments from your Program Lead/Head of School when they finalise their SET report.
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Our Accreditation Committee (the Committee) will review the SET report and any comments from your Program Lead/Head of School. The Committee may ask for details on any aspect of the report before making an accreditation decision.
The Committee will advise that we either:
The Committee may require you to address matters of concerns and set a time to assess these. They may also arrange a second site visit.
We'll then let you know the results of their decision. If you're accredited, we'll also update our website to show your organisation/university's accreditation status.
We recognise that many factors can affect whether a program continues to meet the accreditation standards. To help us assess whether your program can remain accredited, you'll need to submit an annual report. This report must contain:
We will email you the report template. This can be used for all of your accredited programs. If you need a template re-sent to you, please email us.
The Accreditation Committee will review your report. In some cases, it may need to impose further reporting requirements on your accreditation, based on the report.
In addition to annual reporting, some programs will be required to report against conditions and monitoring requirements that the committee has applied. The committee will communicate requirements and due dates for your program reporting directly to you.
You'll also need to pay the annual fee.
We accredit programs against the accreditation standards for up to 3 years. Before the end of this time, we'll contact you to ask you to apply for re-accreditation.
Timing and responsibilities for re-accreditation|
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Up to 12 months before accreditation expires |
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6 weeks before the site visit |
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0-6 weeks before the site visit |
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2-6 months before accreditation expires |
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Before accreditation expires |
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Your accreditation status after re-accreditation may be either:
In some situations, we may need to consider revoking accreditation. For details about these situations, see the Pharmacy Program Accreditation Guide.
Material (major) changes in a program may affect its ability to meet the accreditation standards. For examples of types of material changes, see the Notification of Change form.
You must tell us as soon as you decide to change anything about your accredited program. Use:
Based on this information, the Committee will assess:
If we class your program change as material, you'll need to pay a Material Change fee.
Email us on accreditation@pharmacycouncil.org.au if you have questions or want to make a complaint about an accredited ITP.
Discover how we accredit other types of programs and CPD accrediting organisations
More detailsWe accredit pharmacy programs against clear, agreed standards. See our standards for degree programs, ITPs and vaccination training.
More details