Pharmacy Daily | SHPA celebrates a “stellar year”

THE Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) has released its 2022 Annual Report, showcasing a range of achievements including "growing membership, thriving specialist communities, tangible advocacy impact and the thrilling return of its blockbuster annual conference".

SHPA CEO Kristin Michael said the Society had helped Australia chart a course through the pandemic while at the same time making the most of opportunities to extend the reach of specialist clinical pharmacist roles.

"SHPA provided unique support every step of the way, through our pre-eminent education program, outbreak to growing member cohorts of accredited and community pharmacists, and lending an expert voice to the most significant shake-up of medicines policy in decades," she said.

"We saw membership retention above 90% for the fourth straight year, a cumulative total of 10,000 delegates across more than 100 events, 13% growth in Practice Group membership within our dynamic Specialty Practice streams, and our medication safety advocacy translate into tangible recommendations at state, territory and national levels."

The Society also released a special issue of its Pharmacy GRiT journal (CLICK HERE), celebrating the leading moments from the return of Medicines Management 2022, the 46th SHPA National Conference.

Newly appointed SHPA President, Tom Simpson, wrote in his editorial that an exciting year lay ahead.

"Building on the very strong foundations of our recent past, where we go over the next few years will be even more important, as we work to embed our leading programs and frameworks into the future of our profession.

"The investments SHPA has made into Specialty Practice will continue to bear fruit as pharmacists are increasingly recognised for their detailed knowledge of medicines in a range of specialist fields of practice," Simpson said.

"Equally important, we must make sure that as more is asked from us as pharmacists and technicians, we retain our capacity to practice in a manner that is safe for both patient and practitioner.

"We know from the last decade that asking our clinicians to do more with the same, or less, resources is simply not sustainable.

"It sounds so simple, but in the web of competing agendas, in Canberra and across all jurisdictions, we have to remain clear-eyed...and SHPA will continue fighting this fight," Simpson added.

The SHPA Annual Report notes the organisation now has over 5,000 members, with more than half enrolled in an average of seven SHPA Interest Groups each.

The full report is available for download at shpa.org.au.