The AJP Podcast

Despite pharmacy’s highly feminised workforce, pregnancy and maternity status remain a significant barrier to working in the profession, British pharmacist Amandeep Doll says AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh talks with Amandeep Doll the head of professional belonging and engagement at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society about the challenges pharmacists face when it comes to starting a fami...

Curtis Ruhnau talks in our 100th podcast about supporting your staff and colleagues, the renewed sense of optimism in community pharmacy and why credentialed pharmacists need adequate remuneration In this issue of the AJP podcast, Curtis Ruhnau, president of the Pharmacists Support Service (PSS) and community pharmacy owner, talks to podcast host Carlene McMaugh about a host of topics, including:...

Australia’s pharmacy sector is set to benefit from the extraordinary certainty over the course of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement (8CPA), a business advisor tells our latest podcast  AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh talks with Paul Hedley the principal partner of Hedley Partners about the 8CPA and its impact on the pharmacy market.  Topics covered include:  Pharmacy’s “incredible abil...

Pharmacy ownership requires a lot of sacrifice, and aspiring owners need to be “hands-on in all aspects” of the business, Gordon Ngan tells our podcast AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh talks with Victorian community pharmacist, Gordon Ngan, about pharmacy ownership.  The topics covered include: Ngan’s journey to ownership ( 2 min 44) The “steep learning curve” ne...

Why has it been tricky getting into general practice to date? How does a pharmacist juggling many balls know which ones can and cannot be dropped? And what does the 8CPA mean for rural health? Consultant pharmacist of the year Brooke Shelly talks with AJP Podcast Carlene McMaugh about her “portfolio career” – what it’s like wearing many hats, from working in a GP surgery, to performing HMRs and RM...

The Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement will provide the profession with opportunities to play a greater role in the provision of healthcare, Bruce Annabel says AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh talks with pharmacy business consultant and AJP columnist, Bruce Annabel, about the 8CPA, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s Strategic Agreement on Pharmacist Professional Practice, and th...

Does the 8CPA mean that community pharmacy is out of the 60-day dispensing woods? And how will scope of practice change how pharmacists work – and how owners manage resources? AJP Podcast presenter Carlene McMaugh talks with pharmacist and Capital Chemist CEO Andrew Topp about how he – and the pharmacists working and owning across the Capital group – feel about the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreem...

Dr Fei Sim, PSA national president, talks about the first ever agreement with the government on pharmacist’s professional practice programs, and what this means for the profession In this special episode of the AJP podcast, Dr Fei Sim, national president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) speaks to Carlene McMaugh about a radical change for pharmacy – the first strategic...

“I love the blend of caring for patients but also having to run a business at the same time,” pharmacy entrepreneur Pasquale DeMaria tells our podcast “I love the hustle and bustle of it,” DeMaria says, telling host Carlene McMaugh about his work in pharmacy ownership, in bookkeeping – and after a major life event, in maintaining work-life balance. He says that only a pharmacist can truly understa...

Judith Singleton talks about what pharmacists, and pharmacies, can do to reduce their impact on the environment, and reduce the impact of pharmaceuticals In this episode of the AJP podcast, Dr Judith Singleton, from the School of Clinical Sciences, QUT, talks to host, Carlene McMaugh, about improving sustainability in the health care system and reducing the carbon footprint of health care. Among t...

PDL professional officer Kylie Neville discusses the issues pharmacists face when it comes to medicinal cannabis, with our podcast In the latest edition of the AJP podcast, our host, Carlene McMaugh, speaks to Neville about the risks pharmacists face when dealing with medicinal cannabis. The topics covered include: Risk areas for pharmacists dispensing medicinal cannabis products (1 min 40) The ne...

Funding pharmacists to play a bigger role in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s healthcare could deliver improved outcomes while saving money, pharmacist Atinuke Abraham from the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service, tells our podcast. In the latest edition of the  AJP podcast, our host, Carlene McMaugh, speaks to Abraham, about the opportunities that exist for pharmacists to educ...

Pharmacy is a resilient sector, Blake Hedley tells the AJP Podcast’s Carlene McMaugh – with plenty of valuable advice for those worried about the future, and their role within it Blake Hedley, who works at Hedley Partners with his father Paul – and between the two, they have around 60 years’ worth of advisory experience to pharmacists – talks about the challenges facing pharmacists, particularly y...

“We’re in a messy phase,” as rural pharmacies are overwhelmed by shortages —of staff and medicines—and dealing with uncertainty thanks to the 8CPA “limbo”, says locum  Echuca pharmacist in charge Shonae Zeman, who’s doing locum work after a year outside pharmacy, talks with the AJP Podcast’s host Carlene McMaugh about the key role of rural and regional pharmacies, and the risk of closure. Zeman ex...

Dr Amy Page, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s (PSA’s) Victorian branch president, talks about the state’s pharmacy pilot and the opportunities it provides pharmacists In the latest edition of the AJP podcast, our host, Carlene McMaugh, speaks to Page about the expansion of pharmacists’ scope of practice in Victoria and around the country. The topics covered include...

“This is how we are going to apply the pressure,” CAPS spokespeople tell the AJP Podcast, explaining why the group has moved away from political rallies and towards influencing elections CAPS representatives will attend the Dunkley (Victoria) by-election this weekend (2 March) to lobby against a Labor vote in protest against 60-day dispensing – and Victorian pharmacists are “very keen to assist,”...

A UK pharmacy leader talks about the ‘paradigm shift’ of independent prescribing and what it means for the profession’s future As the countdown nears for the graduation of the UKs first cohort of students to come out as independent pharmacy prescribers, a leader of the profession joins our podcast to talk about the ‘paradigm shift’ this represents to scope of practice...

Paul Sinclair, the first Australian president of the International Pharmacy Federation (FIP) talks about the future of the profession and the changes he sees impacting pharmacy  In the latest edition of the AJP podcast, our host, Carlene McMaugh, speaks to FIP president Paul Sinclair about the  The topics covered include: What are some of the important new issues and developments FIP sees as impac...

A sense that pharmacists would be at least recognised for their hard work during the pandemic and natural disasters was sharply reversed last year, AJP editor Chris Brooker tells our podcast Brooker talks to Carlene McMaugh about the top stories from last year, including “the unicorn of 2023” – double dispensing – and the way it came as a shock to the profession. “Most people were incredibly conce...

PSA’s Fei Sim looks back over the events of 2023, which rocked every facet of the profession in Australia “I really think that when we look back in history, 2023 is a year that I would describe as a ‘monumental year’,” says Dr Fei Sim, national president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia. “There have been a lot of conversations about funding, about 60-day dispensing, about anxiety levels...

Steve Morris, PSA CEO, talks about why we need to examine what quality use of medicines actually means, and why and where pharmacists should be playing a greater role In the latest AJP podcast, Steve Morris, CEO of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia talks to our host, Carlene McMaugh, about quality use of medicines: what it means, why its misunderstood, and what role pharmacists can, and shou...

AJP podcast host speaks to PDL’s Gary West about the key questions pharmacists had over the past year – and forecasts some challenges and opportunities for 2024 Senior professional officer at PDL Gary West says that pharmacists have shown significant interest over 2023 in deferring and declining supply, which he says is partly related to the 60-day dispensing issue. “We’re experiencing a number of...

SHPA national president Tom Simpson talks about the paradigm shift to pharmacy career recognition offered by their new advanced practice college   Earlier this year, SHPA launched the new Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (ANZCAP), a body designed to offer recognition to the myriad of specialist areas of practice within pharmacy.  Tom Simpson, SHPA national president, talks t...

“One of the most interesting years in pharmacy”: Tom Simpson talks practice change, collaborative prescribing and other developments in hospital and clinical pharmacy SHPA national president Tom Simpson joins our podcast to discuss what he describes as “one of the loudest, most interesting years in pharmacy for a long time”. Covering some of the key developments – the...

Community pharmacy owners need to be proactive in maintaining the viability of their stores, with the 8CPA unlikely to be a cure-all for the sector, Capital Chemist Group chief executive, Andrew Topp says  In this podcast, Carlene McMaugh speaks to Topp about the impacts the government’s 60-day dispensing policy is having on community pharmacies, and what the profession needs from the Eighth Commu...