SHPA ends stellar year on a high
The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) has ended a stellar year on a high, celebrating growing membership, thriving specialist communities, tangible advocacy impact and the thrilling return of its blockbuster annual conference.
SHPA Chief Executive Kristin Michaels says the organisation rose to the occasion in 2022, helping Australia chart a course through the Covid-19 pandemic, while maximising opportunities to extend the reach of specialist, clinical roles at the innovative edge of patient care.
‘SHPA provided unique support every step of the way, through our pre-eminent education program, outreach to growing member cohorts of accredited and community pharmacists and lending an expert voice to the most significant shake-up of medicines policy in decades.
‘We saw membership retention above 90% for the fourth straight year, a cumulative total of 10,000 delegates across more than 100 events, 13% growth in Practice Group membership within our dynamic Specialty Practice streams, and our medication safety advocacy translate into tangible recommendations at state, territory and national levels.
‘In 2022 we also celebrated five years of the cornerstone Specialty Practice program, which underpins Australia’s fastest growing pharmacy profession, a timely milestone as hospital pharmacists, technicians and their interdisciplinary peers look to new frontiers improving the health and wellbeing of all Australians.’
The release of the Annual Report was followed by a special MM2022 issue of Pharmacy GRIT, celebrating the leading moments from the return of Medicines Management 2022, the 46th SHPA National Conference, Australia’s largest scientific pharmacy conference.
Alongside the conference recap, new SHPA President Tom Simpson’s editorial noted that an exciting year lies ahead.
‘Building on the very strong foundations of our recent past, where we go over the next few years will be even more important, as we work to embed our leading programs and frameworks into the future of our profession.
‘The investments SHPA has made into Specialty Practice will continue to bear fruit as pharmacists are increasingly recognised for their detailed knowledge of medicines in a range of specialist fields of practice.
‘Equally important, we must make sure that as more is asked from us as pharmacists and technicians, we retain our capacity to practice in a manner that is safe for both patient and practitioner. We know from the last decade that asking our clinicians to do more with the same, or less, resources is simply not sustainable.
‘It sounds so simple but in the web of competing agendas, in Canberra and across all jurisdictions, we have to remain clear-eyed. And SHPA will continue fighting this fight.’