Page 34 - Pharmacy careers guide

for toxicology education and training, as well as for clinical research in toxicology and poisons information in Australia.
Pharmacy Board of Australia (PBA)
The PBA is regulated by AHPRA. All pharmacists must be registered with AHPRA for professional practice. The Board develops standards, codes, and guidelines for the pharmacy profession.
The PBA approves accreditation standards and accredited courses of study in pharmacy. In NSW, the Board has a co‐regulatory arrangement
for the handling of notifications, complaints, investigations and disciplinary hearings with the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). A similar arrangement has now been set up in QLD; where their arrangement is with the QLD Health Ombudsman.
Pharmacy Council of NSW
The Pharmacy Council of New South Wales (NSW) is a statutory body established to manage complaints about pharmacists practising in NSW and NSW pharmacy students, to regulate NSW pharmacy premises and to maintain a Register of Pharmacies.
The Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) is a business unit of the Health Administration Corporation (HAC) and provides executive and corporate support services to a number of health professional Councils, including the Pharmacy Council.
The HPCA operates in tandem with AHPRA, which is responsible for registering health professionals across Australia through the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.
Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
The TGA regulates therapeutic goods through administration of the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989 and undertaking:
• pre‐market assessment
• post‐market monitoring and enforcement of standards
• licensing of Australian manufacturers and verifying overseas manufacturers’ compliance with the same standards as their Australian counterparts.
Therapeutic goods are divided broadly into two classes: medicines and medical devices. Medicines must be entered as either registered or listed medicines and medical devices must be included on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods (ARTG) before they may be supplied in or exported from Australia, unless exempted. If a problem is discovered with a medicine, device or manufacturer, the TGA is able to take action. Possible regulatory actions vary from continued monitoring to withdrawing the product from the market. All pharmacists can report adverse events to the TGA using their online forms.
As a pharmacist at the TGA there are opportunities to apply your technical expertise in areas that undertake pre‐market assessments or post‐market monitoring of prescription, over‐the‐counter
(OTC) and complementary medicines. The TGA
also employs pharmacists in a range of roles that require knowledge of government processes such as communications, policy and parliamentary roles. Once a staff member has joined the TGA there
may be opportunities to work in different areas. This includes other roles within the Department
of Health in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Division, Medical Benefits Division, Office of Chemical Safety and many more. The TGA employs highly qualified people including doctors, scientists, biomedical engineers, pharmacists and other scientific and technical specialists. The TGA aims to attract and retain skilled staff and supports a culture of high performance, continuous learning, and scientific excellence.
34 Pharmacy careers guide I ©Pharmaceutical Society of Australia Ltd.