Pharmacy workforce set for boost

HIGHER than anticipated numbers of overseas trained pharmacists sitting the Australian Pharmacy Council’s (APC’s) Knowledge Assessment of Pharmaceutical Sciences (KAPS) exam, could ease workforce shortages, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, believes.

Speaking during the Guild’s fortnightly COVID-19 update earlier this week, Twomey said the Federal Government’s decision to add pharmacies to the Priority Migration Skilled Occupations List (PD 13 Jul) had led to a significant increase in the number of candidates applying to sit the exams.

“Because your Guild was able to lobby the Government to have pharmacists as essential workers put on the Priority Migration Skilled Occupations List - and we only had that win in the last couple of months - within the last eight weeks there has been a 75% increase in the number of people that have applied to do the KAPS exam,” he said.

“[Around] 65% of that increased amount are already sitting here in Australia - they don’t need to get on a boat or a plane and come in through a hard border and quarantine for two weeks, they’re already here.

“They’re fully qualified pharmacists and registered in other comparable countries, there was just a blockage to getting a visa to be able to work.

“This will add an extra 120 registered pharmacists, which I know is not huge, but to be honest with you, it’s like adding another whole university cohort of graduates.

“Imagine adding another University of Sydney to the mix, or another Monash University or University of Queensland, one of those big schools, that’s exactly what this does.”

Twomey also noted “the great work” that the APC and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) have been doing in maintaining the pandemic sub-register of pharmacists.

“There’s 1,755 pharmacists that had recently let their registration lapse that are now back on,” he said.

“They are completely registered for the purposes of assisting with the COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

“So there are 1,755 people out there that chose to have their registration reactivated, because they wanted to help vaccinate, so get the word out.

“If you are looking for somebody, not to dispense, but to assist you with this extra service [these pharmacists are registered].”