HECS waivers and student subsidies for students in rural areas and the extension of the COVID-19 pandemic register are among the strategies needed to strengthen the pharmacy workforce going forward, the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA), believes.
In its pre-Federal Budget submission, the SHPA noted that the COVID-19 pandemic had "seen an unprecedented demand for hospital pharmacists throughout the healthcare system with pivotal roles in the supply of critical medicines, assisting extending the delivery of appropriate healthcare, and vaccination programs amongst some of the critical roles".
"In order to continue to achieve the national medicines policy's objectives SHPA recommends extending the national pandemic response sub-register for pharmacists practising within their full-scope beyond Sep 2022 and beyond Apr 2022 for the COVID-19 vaccination sub-register," it said.
"SHPA strongly supports the current sub-register established by AHPRA and the National Pharmacy Board of Australia which fast-tracks the return of experienced and qualified pharmacists to the workforce due to outbreaks of COVID-19 variants.
"SHPA also congratulates the Health Minister's involvement in this, however, SHPA foresees the ongoing need for this sub-register beyond 2022 and requests the Government urgently act to facilitate an extension to increase the degree of certainty around workforce planning within the healthcare system.
"SHPA also recommends support for increasing the uptake of accelerated graduate-entry pharmacy students in Master of Pharmacy courses, which is essential for a timely increase in the output of pharmacy students through these accelerated and validated education programs, which typically can throughput successful students in two years compared to four years.
"SHPA recommends increasing student subsidies for these accelerated university placements to attract student candidates and strongly recommends the waiver of HECS fees for all regional, rural and remote areas where currently there is a large shortfall and difficulty in recruiting students in these regions, where in recent times pharmacy schools have had to close."
The Society has also called on the Government to support an updated Pharmacy Workforce Planning study to provide clarity on the projected needs and growth for the sector in light of the expansion and dependence on pharmacy services during the pandemic.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 01 Feb 22
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