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The Australian Pharmacy Leaders Forum (APLF) has affirmed its commitment to attracting, engaging, and retaining a pharmacy workforce that is equipped to meet Australia’s evolving health needs.
Hosted by the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC), and organised by a committee from APC, the Council of Pharmacy Schools (CPS) and the Australasian College of Pharmacy (ACP), over 60 leaders across the pharmacy sector gathered in Canberra this week to explore the future of the pharmacy workforce, addressing current challenges and identifying opportunities for increasing retention of the workforce.
A keynote address was delivered by Professor Zubin Austin from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Toronto. Drawing on his extensive background in pharmacy education and workforce planning, Professor Austin shared key insights from Canada that enriched and guided the day’s conversations.
"Addressing the complex challenge of workforce sustainability requires collaboration across all sectors of the profession and it was a great opportunity to share ideas with such a range of Pharmacy experts" stated APLF Chair, Professor Joe Tucci.
Speakers included:
The themes discussed were:
One of the primary issues highlighted was the increasing number of health professionals contemplating leaving the field due to burnout. Speakers stressed the importance of equipping the workforce to handle psychosocial challenges and ensuring access to both individual and organisational resources to manage pressures, mitigate burnout, and cultivate safe, supportive workplaces.
Professor Austin highlighted the positive impact of building resilient workplaces.
“What we discovered was that resilience had almost nothing to do with individual or personal psychology, and almost everything to do with management decisions. Well-intentioned ideas around personal responsibility for being resilient is far less impactful than practical management decisions around creating safe and resilient workplaces”, stated Professor Austin.
There was strong support for exploring scope of practice to increase the sense of personal accomplishment and satisfaction for pharmacists in their work. Offering students more opportunities to provide primary healthcare in a range of practice settings was seen as a key strategy to attract and retain pharmacists, as well as enabling insight into career pathways available to them.
Speakers cited research which demonstrated that siloed approaches and professional hierarchies were counterproductive, highlighting the importance of collaborative practice. Unity and coalition across all areas of the sector was seen as essential, with a shared vision and mission needed to guide the profession forward.
“We all left this event enthused about the strong level of engagement and we reaffirm our commitment to collaborate with the Australian Pharmacy Leaders Forum and the broader sector to address these challenges, support our frontline pharmacists, and drive meaningful progress. I trust this marks the beginning of many more valuable discussions in this space, and we look forward to further leading this important conversation”, Professor Tucci concluded.
