Pharmacy Daily | Pharmacy infection control training

THE Pharmacy Guild of Australia and Australian Securities Listed (ASX) Registered Training Organisation (RTO) iCollege are rolling out a pharmacy-focused infection control training program.

The training is part of the National Training Fund and is available to all customer-facing pharmacy staff, with funding available in several States and Territories.

Announcing the new partnership, Guild National President, George Tambassis, said the program would ensure pharmacy employees are suitably prepared to deal with the significant challenges confronting them on a daily basis during the COVID crisis and beyond.

"This training will assist you to better understand the minimisation of potential exposure to not only COVID-19, but other infectious diseases and ensure you are prepared to handle any dangerous or community safety situations, as and when they arise," he said.

"The Infection Control Skill Set training, which can be accessed through GuildEd, has been prepared jointly by the Guild and iCollege, and covers standard operating procedures already in place in community pharmacies.

"We are delighted to work with iCollege on this initiative and have made every effort to customise the training to ensure it meets the standard operating procedures and protocols that should be utilised in the operation of a community pharmacy."

The deal has exposed a number of apparent divisions within the sector, with a Pharmacy Daily source who did not wish to be named saying they had concerns over the tie-up with iCollege.

The source claimed one of iCollege's subsidiaries, Celtic Training and Consultancy Pty Ltd had been removed from the RTO's scope of registration in Jun 2019 by the Australian Skills Quality Authority, while a number of iCollege courses were suspended in Jun this year.

"This Guild iCollege partnership leaves students exposed to low quality training," the source claimed.

However, iCollege Executive General Manager, Stuart Manifold, told Pharmacy Daily the issues around non-compliance were linked to courses that iCollege had inherited through acquisitions and were not being taught.

Manifold added that as an ASX-listed entity iCollege was subject to greater scrutiny than non-listed RTOs, and the pharmacy infection control program is a high quality program.