Pharmacy taken off SOL
June 4, 2013
THE pathway for independent
skilled migration to Australia as
a pharmacist will be unavailable
from the beginning of next month,
with the removal of pharmacy from
the government’s official Skilled
Occupations List (SOL) for the
purposes of migration.
The revised list becomes effective
from 01 Jul, with the list formally
removing ANZSCO Code 251511
Hospital Pharmacist and 251513
Retail Pharmacist.
Several pharmacy organisations
were consulted about the
change, which has been made
independently by the government.
The decision does not affect
overseas born permanent residents
of Australia, according to the
Australian Pharmacy Council which
revealed the move late yesterday.
The Pharmacy Guild welcomed
the decision, with a spokesman
saying it “reflects the pharmacy
workforce reality in many parts of
Australia”.
According to the Guild submission
to the SOL review, which covered
retail pharmacists, there is not a
general undersupply of pharmacists
but rather “a misdistribution
between metropolitan and regional
Australia”.
The Guild cited internal
modelling which suggests there
is already an oversupply of more
than 2,200 pharmacists - with
this figure anticipated to reach
3,782 or almost 15% of registered
pharmacists by 2015.
“The Guild believes that the
current system is not adequately
designed or resourced to
adequately support rural
and remote intern pharmacy
placements due to the limited
targeted financial support for
undergraduates and lack of support
to internships,” the submission says.
And Australian College of
Pharmacy Trent Twomey said the
removal of pharmacy from the
skilled occupations list is a win for
young pharmacists.
However, putting it succinctly,
“if young pharmacists want our
profession to remain off the SOL
they need to get off their bums
and get out of the capital cities,”
Twomey added.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 04 Jun 13To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 04 Jun 13