Thu 4 September 2025
Tom Simpson showcases ‘innovation for the individual’ at FIP2025
Delivered by AdPha President Assoc. Prof. Tom Simpson FANZCAP (Lead&Mgmt) at FIP Copenhagen 2025, 1st September 2025
It is such a pleasure to be here. As a life-long fan of Lego, this feels a little like a spiritual homecoming for me.
Since we last gathered in Cape Town, it has been an enormous year for our organisation. FIP 2024 was held only one week after we began trading as Advanced Pharmacy Australia, or AdPha.
Over the last 12 months we have worked to embed the concept of advanced pharmacy in everything we do. We have sought to move beyond historical siloes of care settings through the broader and more inclusive name. At the same time, we have respected and built on our legacy, responded to feedback from members, stakeholders and government, and adapted to a rapidly changing pharmacy landscape in Australia.
It has been a busy year, but one year later this forum gives us the chance to pause and reflect on our journey.
The Challenge We All Face
At the heart of this reflection is what hasn’t changed.
Our identity has expanded and our membership continues to evolve, but much more remains the same. That stems from a simple truth: professional organisations must balance the needs of each member with the needs of the profession.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could be all things to all people—meeting everyone’s needs, reaching every ear of government, and counting 100% of the profession as members? Imagine the impact on medicines use and patient safety. But in the real world, there is a tension between advancing the profession to reach its full potential and supporting the individual to achieve theirs.
This challenge has always existed, but it is becoming stronger through generational change and clearer as all health professionals evolve in their loyalties and habits of consumption.
At AdPha, we support individual pharmacists while advancing the profession as a whole. One cannot succeed without the other. Together they create a cycle of personal growth and collective community, which is essential to advance pharmacy practice and deliver on our mission.
This is what we call “innovation for the individual”—a comprehensive ecosystem that wraps around each pharmacist while elevating the profession.
Three Promises
Before exploring our approach, let me share what drives everything we do. At our core, we make three promises:
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Connection – creating bridges that span geography, practice settings, and career stages.
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Collaboration – breaking down siloes within and between hospital, community, industrial and academic pharmacy.
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Identity – strengthening what it means to be a pharmacist in an era where our role is rapidly evolving and expanding.
These are not just words on our mission statement—they are the foundation of everything we do.
Four Pillars of Innovation
To serve both the individual and the profession, we have built an ecosystem around four pillars:
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Recognising expertise – establishing pathways that acknowledge and advance pharmaceutical expertise across all practice settings.
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Understanding the profession – using data and insights to build a clearer picture of our workforce and its contributions.
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Anticipating future challenges – preparing members for tomorrow’s healthcare landscape through strategic foresight.
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Less education, more learning – delivering accessible and innovative opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.
Each of these programs is important, but their power lies in how they work together.
Pillar One: Recognising Expertise – ANZCAP
Consider Sarah, a hospital pharmacist with 15 years of experience. She leads antimicrobial stewardship programs, mentors junior staff and contributes to clinical research. Yet when she applied for senior positions, she had no formal credentials to demonstrate her advanced expertise.
Her CV looked much like that of a new graduate—degree, registration, years of experience. This is not unusual. Thousands of pharmacists face the same challenge. The problem is not lack of expertise; it is lack of recognition.
Our solution was the Australian and New Zealand College of Advanced Pharmacy (ANZCAP), a landmark program that establishes clear career progression across all practice settings.
ANZCAP offers three tiers—Pharmacist Resident, Pharmacist Registrar and Pharmacist Consultant (or Fellow of the College)—accessible through two pathways: a structured training route for early career pharmacists, and an independent pathway that allows anyone to build a portfolio over time.
It is a digital-first platform where every achievement can be documented, learning journeys personalised, and specialty recognition earned. Since launching two years ago, more than 2,000 practitioners have been recognised—between 5–10% of Australia’s entire pharmacist workforce. Hundreds more are in the pipeline.
Importantly, many pharmacists are also exporting their portfolios for job applications, award nominations and workplace recognition. Sarah—and thousands like her—are making recognition work for them.
Pillar Two: Understanding the Profession – Workforce Insights
Decision-makers lacked comprehensive data about advanced pharmacy and its contributions to the health system. To address this, we created the State of Pharmacy: Workforce Insights 2025—the first complete overview of the advanced pharmacy workforce in hospitals and related services.
This work examines workforce distribution, service delivery models, specialised roles and pharmacist-led initiatives. Its value lies in stronger advocacy, better workforce planning and greater recognition of pharmacists’ impact on patient outcomes.
Findings are now being finalised and will be shared at our national conference, Medicines Management 2025 (MM2025) in Melbourne this November.
Pillar Three: Anticipating the Future – Pharmacy Forecast Australia
Health care is evolving rapidly. To remain relevant, pharmacists must anticipate, not just react.
Our answer is Pharmacy Forecast Australia, an annual foresight report looking five years ahead. The 2025 edition explores service models, the evolution of pharmacy technicians, mental health and geriatric care, advanced therapeutics, sustainability, and trust and security in health IT.
For the first time, the report also includes a “Black Swan” scenario—rare, unpredictable and disruptive events that can redefine our profession. We began Pharmacy Forecast amid COVID-19, and five years on, it is fitting to return to this theme.
The goal is simple: to empower pharmacists to prepare for the future, not be surprised by it.
Pillar Four: Less Education, More Learning
Habits are changing, and traditional education formats no longer meet pharmacists’ needs. AdPha has created an expansive loop of agile, accessible professional development spanning foundation through to leadership.
Specialty practice communities develop relevant, evidence-based content, which we deliver in flexible formats across Australia’s vast geography. These communities also provide real-time clinical forums and spark collaborations, projects and partnerships.
By linking subject matter expertise directly to policy, advocacy and professional development, these communities are unlocking far more than education alone.
Innovation for the Individual
So how do the four pillars connect? The answer is: through people like Sarah, and the many other pharmacists we support. No two members have the same journey, but each benefits from the connections between recognition, education, workforce insights, foresight and advocacy.
The bigger picture is clear: individual excellence leads to collective expertise, which leads to better patient outcomes.
It is about ecosystem thinking over isolated programs. Individual focus driving collective advancement. Data-driven decision-making and future-focused professional development.
Innovation for the individual is not just about serving pharmacists better—it is about creating a profession capable of meeting tomorrow’s healthcare challenges.