From our Chair
Associate Professor
Sue Kirsa
Chair
Another successful year of growth at the Australian Pharmacy Council (APC).
As we made significant moves to implement our new Strategic Priorities, APC continued to perform well with a number of very successful initiatives and a financial surplus being delivered. I want to acknowledge and thank the APC Board, our wonderful CEO, executive, employees and our many, many collaborators for their contribution to the organisation’s success.
Indigenous leadership
We added 5 new members who are Indigenous to our Board and Committees. We welcomed Aleena Williams to our Board, and Chastina Heck to the Accreditation Committee. Members to the Indigenous Health Strategy Group include Lloyd Dolan, Alex Burke and Anna Tiatia Fa’atoese Latu. The APC’s Strategic Directions include a pillar on First Nations Health and a commitment to a health system free of racism and discrimination. We want to ensure First Nations Peoples’ voices are leading and guiding our work to contribute to a culturally safe pharmacy workforce in Australia.
FIP Seal award
APC is the first pharmacy education accreditation body to be awarded the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) Seal award. This Seal recognises and assures APC’s quality and alignment with FIP’s mission, aims and Development Goals. It is a public symbol of the quality APC provides as a leading accreditation body for pharmacy education.
Experts in standards-setting
We are firmly recognised as leaders and experts in the development of accreditation standards. As new and extended scopes of practice are described and defined, APC is in a really good position to support that via the development of new accreditation standards. This is reflected in requests from the Pharmacy Board of Australia, and the Department of Health and Aged Care to produce new standards for extended and new scopes of practice.
Future priorities
APC key priorities and goals over the next 12 months include further embedding cultural safety into pharmacy education and assessment and using our leadership and reputation to improve quality in pharmacy education both nationally and internationally.