Professor Trent Twomey says prescribing is ‘the right – and only – direction’ for the profession.
Pharmacy Guild of Australia president Professor Trent Twomey told Australasian Pharmacy Professional conference delegates on Thursday that the organisation is working toward a registration endorsement that “empowers pharmacists to work to the full extent of their training, skills and experience”.
The specific model that he is aiming for will allow pharmacists to “administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply, review and/or use Schedule 2, 3, 4, and 8 medicines, within their individual, self-determined, documented and authorised scope of practice”.
The APP, which is the largest pharmacy conference and trade show in the southern hemisphere, is held annually at the Gold Coast.
Work on a pharmacist prescriber endorsement was first flagged in September 2025.
This would be a significant step; currently, pharmacist scope of practice is largely dictated by ad hoc state-specific trials and programs.
Because of this, there is no centrally recognised training pathway or single qualification to become a pharmacist prescriber.
A registration endorsement for pharmacist prescribers would do two main things: standardise the training needed to become a prescribing pharmacist and make prescribing an official, nationally recognised part of pharmacy.
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In other health professions, registration endorsements are typically a qualification that is added on after an optional period of postgraduate study. Very few registered nurses, for instance, progress through to a nurse practitioner endorsement.
This appears to differ from Professor Twomey’s vision of the pharmacist prescribing endorsement.
“… [To] really seize this opportunity we need prescribing to be included in the base registerable degree, so that every student leaving university can assess, diagnose and treat every day and long-term health conditions,” he said.
“This is absolutely the right – and only – direction for our profession.”
The guild’s official goal is to have 80% of community pharmacists and 80% of community pharmacies offering ‘full scope’ services by 2035.
Professor Twomey went on to allude to an address given by Queensland premier David Crisafulli at the APP conference earlier on Thursday morning.
“You heard the premier [David Crisafulli] allude to this, a model that empowers pharmacists to work to the full scope and extent of their training, their skills and their experience, a model with the same safe safeguards and protections as other professionals,” Professor Twomey said.
A transcript of Mr Crisafulli’s address is not available online at time of writing, nor has his office made any announcements regarding pharmacy scope of practice today.
