Thu 13 March 2025
AdPha welcomes re-elected Western Australian Government
Advanced Pharmacy Australia (AdPha) today congratulates the re-elected WA Labor Party under the leadership of Premier Roger Cook on their win at the WA State Election yesterday.
AdPha calls on Premier Cook’s government to commit to the statewide roll out of Partnered Pharmacist Medication Prescribing (PPMP) and a $67.7 million investment into strengthening the WA Health hospital pharmacy workforce to boost the ailing health system.
AdPha President Tom Simpson FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt) says investing in the hospital pharmacy workforce and expanding its scope of practice will give Western Australians better access to safe, high-quality care.
'We know that the WA health system is feeling the strain of a growing population.
‘The initiatives outlined in our election priorities will improve healthcare system efficiency while ensuring a strong pipeline of skilled pharmacists and technicians.
‘Pharmacists play a vital role in patient care, to help reduce the estimated 250,000 hospital admissions in Australia are medication related, two-thirds of which are potentially preventable.
‘Our funding proposal directly supports key recommendations from the Sustainable Health Review and key strategic priorities in the WA Health Workforce Strategy 2034, ensuring a strong pipeline of skilled pharmacists through new intern, Pharmacist Resident and Pharmacist Registrar trainee and clinical educator positions.
‘With broader health workforce shortages in WA, investing in pharmacy is essential to ensuring sustainable, high-quality healthcare for our communities, and that the patients that account for the almost300,000 overnight public hospital admissions receive comprehensive pharmacy review while in hospital.’
Mr Simpson says pharmacists are key to improving hospital bed flow efficiency and capacity.
‘Ambulance ramping is a recurring issue across the country, and emerged as an issue during the election campaign in the West.
‘In other states, AdPha advocacy has led to the roll-out of PPMP as a measure to ease pressure on hospital beds, as research shows this evidence-based prescribing model reduces medication errors and hospital length of stay.
‘AdPha has met with the Minister Sanderson and the WA Government on numerous occasions about implementing PPMP and is pleased to see it form part of the forthcoming industrial agreement for WA public sector pharmacists.
‘On behalf of AdPha members, we congratulate Premier Roger Cook on his election victory. We look forward to working with the new WA government to support this critical workforce and expand pharmacists’ scope of practice to improve patient care.’