The Register

• The Board has written to all registered pharmacists about their transition to the national scheme.  If you have not received a letter contact the AHPRA Registration Helpline on 1300 088 590.
• The Registers of Practitioners can be searched online, here.
• The Board's schedule of fees is available, here.
• The Board is required to publish conditions imposed and undertakings accepted from pharmacists on the Register of Pharmacists.  If a pharmacist has health conditions recorded on their registration, the following wording will appear:
  This practitioner's registration is subject to conditions that relate to his/her personal health.  These conditions are not publicly available due to privacy considerations.
• The annual registration renewal date is 30 November for pharmacists.  However, as the registration dates for States and Territories did not align, the expected first registration renewal under the national scheme will vary.  Further information is available, here.
• Steps on how to renew your registration online is available, here.
  

Professional indemnity insurance

• All registered pharmacists (except those holding non-practising registration) are required to be covered by professional indemnity insurance (PII) as outlined in the Board's PII arrangements standard.
  
• A policy must have a level of cover not less than $20 million for any single claim and must include suitable run-off cover once the pharmacist ceases to practise.  AHPRA has also issued information on types of insurance policy cover.
• Pharmacists will also need to consider arrangements separate to any employer's arrangements in cases where they practise in locations other than their principal place of employment.

Recency of practice

Criminal history

Legislation

CPD requirements

• All registered pharmacists (except those holding non-practising registration) are required to complete continuing professional development (CPD) which is relevant to their scope of practice.  The Board will audit compliance with this requirement annually.
• Registered pharmacists are required to complete 20 CPD credits for the 12 month period ending September 2011, 30 CPD credits for the 12 month period ending 30 September 2012, and 40 CPD credits for the 12 month period ending 30 September 2013.
• The Board's CPD regstration standard is available here and CPD guidelines and classifications of CPD activities can be accessed here.
• For information about how PSA can support you to meet these requirements, click here and more about CPD credit points here.
  

Mandatory notifications

• The Board has released its guidelines for mandatory notifications which are relevant to registered health practitioners, employers of practitioners and education providers.  Students should also be familiar with the guidelines; although they are not required to make a mandatory notification, a notification can be made about an impaired student (in the context of undertaking clinical training).
• The obligation to make a mandatory notification applies to the conduct or impairment of all practitioners, not just those within your own profession.
• Information on how to make a notification is available, here.

Code of Conduct

Advertising

Guidelines relevant to practice

• Guidelines for dispensing of medicines cover issues including safe dispensing, labelling, counselling, compounding, dispensing errors, workloads, return of unwanted medicines and dispensary assistants/technicians.
• Guidelines on practice-specific issues address other issues, with particular reference to drugs of abuse, including: references, drugs of abuse, pseudoephedrine, supply of S2 and S3 medicines, complementary and alternative therapies, and supply of tobacco and alcohol products.
  
• Guidelines on practice-specific issues - Guideline 1 (List of References) provide a list of references which must be readily accessible and should be accessed by pharmacists during dispensing, clinical assessment, reviewing and counselling processes.  It also flags those references which are relevant to pharmacists undertaking medication reviews.
• Guidelines on specialised supply arrangements cover dose administration aids, automated dose packaging systems, and periodic administration of medicines (staged supply).

Interns

• Graduates of Australian or New Zealand pharmacy courses will be required to undertake 1824 hours of supervised practice as outlined in the Board's supervised practice arrangements registration standard.
  
• From 1 July 2010, all interns must have provisional registration.  Interns in NSW, Northern Territory, Victoria, and South Australia transitioned to provisional registration under the national law.  Interns in the ACT, Queensland, Tasmania and Western Australia have to make a new application to the Pharmacy Board of Australia for provisional registration.
• English Language Skills.  The Board's English language skills registration standard and new policy on the implementation of the standard will affect some interns (eg. international students who did not complete secondary education in English in one of the listed countries and internationally qualified pharmacists undertaking the Australian Pharmacy Council assessment process for registration).

Examinations for general registration

Preceptors

Pharmacist prescribing