Three finalist teams have been announced in the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s 2017 National Student Business Plan Competition.  

The finalists, from a total of 14 entries, have successfully progressed through the business plan, quarter-final and semi-final rounds.

​The three finalist teams are:

• Isle Pharmacy, University of Tasmania
• New Life Pharmacy, a cross-institutional team from James Cook University, Queensland University of Technology and University of South Australia
• PharmHealth Pharmacy, a cross-institutional team from La Trobe University and Monash University.

The competition is an Australia and New Zealand wide challenge, promoting creative entrepreneurship among students preparing for a career in community pharmacy. Under the competition format, the teams produced business plans, provided written responses to feedback and participated in an investor pitch.
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The three finalists will now present their investor pitch ‘live’ at the Pharmacy Connect conference in Sydney, on Saturday 2 September, with the winners announced at the Gala Dinner that evening. The competition will provide $15,000 in cash prizes to the finalists in addition to registration, flights and accommodation to attend Pharmacy Connect.
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The competition, which commenced in 2006, was designed to encourage innovation among pharmacy students by asking them to create competitive business plans using their ideas, talents and creative business concepts. The competition is an initiative of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia and is sponsored by Sanofi Consumer Healthcare (principal sponsor), EBOS (major sponsor), Gold Cross Products and Services and Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL) (foundation sponsors).

The Australian Digital Health Agency (the Agency) and Pharmacy Guild of Australia (the Guild) have committed to work together to help build the digital health capabilities of community pharmacies and advance the efficiency, quality and delivery of healthcare to improve health outcomes for all Australians.

Both strong advocates for the widespread adoption and use of the My Health Record system by community pharmacists to better the health of the public, the Agency and the Guild have now entered into a collaborative partnership aimed at driving adoption and use of the My Health Record system by community pharmacies (supported by education and training) and maximising the medicines safety benefits.

Follow this link to read more.

We want every pharmacy student in Australia to experience the value of attending an industry conference – which is why the Guild is proud to offer FREE* registration to Pharmacy Connect. Gain clinical, business and industry knowledge to help further your studies and potential career pathways.

Your FREE* registration includes access to education sessions, trade exhibition and Welcome Reception. Tickets to the Gala Dinner are not included, but can be purchased for a special student price of just $85 per person. (Save $80!)

To register, simply visit www.pharmacyconnect.com.au​

PLUS – Attend our exclusive student and intern networking event, hosted by the Guild ITP on Friday 1st September at Pharmacy Connect. Visit our event page for all the details!

*Free registration is available only to pharmacy students currently completing their B.Pharm or M.Pharm degrees within Australia and current Guild Interns

The Executive Director of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, David Quilty, has penned the following points to make clear the Pharmacy Guild’s approach to the upscheduling of pain relief medicines containing codeine from 1 February 2018.

1. The Guild has for many years been at the forefront of advocating for and taking action to introduce tools that enable clinicians to identify and support patients at risk of dependence.
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2. It is the Guild and community pharmacies that have put patients before financial considerations by proactively developing and implementing MedsASSIST, a national real time recording and monitoring system that identifies and supports patients who may be misusing codeine containing over-the-counter analgesics.

​The Guild has commenced a community campaign urging the Federal Government to deliver the Sixth Community Pharmacy Agreement (6CPA) in full. The advertisement congratulates Greg Hunt on becoming Health Minister and notes the Coalition’s commitment to the community pharmacy model.  It has the tagline: “We are placing our trust in you just as our patients place their trust in us.”

See further information and sign up for updates at the  campaign-specific webpage.