Pharmacy Council of New South Wales

We receive over 300 complaints against pharmacists every year. Each complaint is assessed by us and the Health Care Complaints Commission. Responses are usually sought from the responsible pharmacist/s and then we consult with the HCCC to determine what, if any,...

Authority requirements for certain prescriptions has emerged as a knowledge gap for many pharmacists. Do you know what type of authorities are required for different prescriptions? Prescribing and dispensing: Recently, the Medical Council of NSW undertook interim...

I recently attended a conference for regulators of Health Professionals. One of the keynote presentations really made me stop and think about what I do day to day. The presenter spoke about competence and performance. Competence being what we CAN do and performance...

Last year we saw a large increase in the number of reported complaints relating to the compounding of medicines in pharmacies in NSW. In 2017/2018 there were 42 complaints, which was up from 20 reports in 2016/2017. This also represents a total of 13.5% of the total...

When entering a prescription into the dispense system, it has been found that many pharmacists are not entering all the correct and required information. Two important pieces of information not recorded correctly which have repeatedly come to our attention are: The...

To all you pharmacists out there in the wide world of pharmacy, please be advised that routine inspections of Council registered pharmacies carried out by the inspectors of the Pharmacy Council of New South Wales, now include, Checking of appropriate storage of...

Amendment to the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 The Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 has been amended to regulate the following as Type A drugs of addiction: cannabis (when in Schedule 8) tetrahydrocannabinols (when in Schedule 8)...

This month, we interview Council President and long-time community pharmacist, Stuart Ludington, who has been a member of the Pharmacy Council since its formation in 2010. How did you first get involved in pharmacy? What’s your background? Growing up, Jim Matthews (...