RAISING education standards across the pharmacy sector will be crucial to increasing wages, Pharmacy Guild of Australia National President, Trent Twomey, believes.
Speaking at the Guild's inaugural Pharmacy Industry Roadshow event in Sydney last night, Twomey said efforts to increase pay across the sector would require pharmacy workers to boost their training qualifications in line with the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF).
"It's not just as simple as the Guild sitting down with PPA (Professional Pharmacists Australia) and saying, 'let's do a deal and put everyone up a few bucks an hour, or a couple of tens of thousands of dollars a year'," he said.
"The Fair Work Commission (FWC) makes us benchmark to other graduates and para-professionals with a similar qualification.
"To raise wages we first have to raise education."
Twomey's comments came days after he urged pharmacy owners to invest in training pharmacy assistants beyond "the mandatory minimum requirement to be QCPP (Quality Care Pharmacy Program) accredited", to Certificate 2, 3 or 4 on the AQF, at Pharmacy Connect (PD 05 Sep).
Twomey told delegates at the roadshow that moves to boost pharmacists' training to a Master of Pharmacy Extended - allowing graduates to use the title Doctor of Pharmacy - were on track, with Education Ministers set to vote on the proposed qualification upgrade "exceptionally soon".
The proposed creation of Doctor of Pharmacy was included under clause 12.4 of the Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement (PD 23 Jun 2020).
Twomey reassured pharmacists that there will be pathways for them to update their current qualifications to the Doctor of Pharmacy level through pharmacy schools and the Australasian College of Pharmacy, but noted there will be an additional training requirement.
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