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EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW 5 Trent Twomey NATIONAL PRESIDENT, PHARMACY GUILD OF AUSTRALIA The newly appointed National President tells Retail Pharmacy of his passion for the “outstanding and distinguished” pharmacy profession and his plans to address the needs of all community pharmacies, no matter their location. Tell us about why you became a community pharmacist. My journey to becoming a pharmacist started with my mother, who was a pharmacy assistant. I saw first-hand the good that pharmacists and pharmacy assistants do in their local communities. Her passion for the profession impressed me and nurtured in me a similar passion, and I decided to become a pharmacist. My mother’s encouragement and love have taken me to James Cook University, the presidency of NAPSA and the presidency of the Australian College of Pharmacy, now the Australasian College of Pharmacy. I’ve always had an ambition to do something for people. The primary healthcare sector, with my mother’s support, attracted me from very early on. I saw huge opportunities in community pharmacy that the other primary healthcare disciplines just didn’t offer, including the direct contact and face-to-face engagement you get with your patients and all the people in the communities you serve. I saw the great flexibility and diversity in the work of my local pharmacist and how the pharmacy was as much a community hub as it was a health hub. I also saw how well- respected pharmacists were by all sectors of the community. These qualities of the work and its role in the community were attractive to me, so I dived into pharmacy with a great deal of enthusiasm and a commitment to use the knowledge I gained to its best advantage. I was, and still am, fascinated by the medicines we have and how, as pharmacists, we’re the medicines experts. This empowers us to help ensure patients are on the best medicine regimens for their individual conditions. I also saw how much our medical colleagues and, indeed, patients rely on pharmacists for medicines advice and expertise, and I wanted to be part of that. I have an unwavering passion for our outstanding and distinguished profession, and I want to see all our local community pharmacies be able to fully support their patients’ healthcare needs and local communities every day. What are some of the immediate issues you want to address as National President? Obviously, Covid-19 vaccination in community pharmacies is a priority. Getting our continued response to Covid-19 and our roles as frontline healthcare vaccination providers right is critical to ensure the best outcomes for our patients. The introduction of Covid-19 vaccinations in community pharmacies is also an immediate focus, as we need to get it right and get it started as soon as is practicably possible. I also want to ensure that this year’s flu-vax campaign aligns with the Covid-19 vaccination program and that we do everything we can to help get people covered, so they maintain their health. You’ve always been a strong advocate regarding the health role pharmacists can play. Why are you passionate about this? My passion for the profession extends to how we can do things better and, importantly, how we can better utilise the skills and knowledge we learn, both at university and in the pharmacy. For too long, the profession has been held back from achieving its full potential for patients, and I think we can work with the healthcare sector as a whole and governments to improve how patients receive their healthcare. I will pursue opportunities to ensure pharmacists can work to their full scope of practice in the interests of patients and the future of the sector. This will enable community pharmacies to deliver more services to patients and help ease pressure on other areas of the healthcare sector. An integral focus of my work will be to have community pharmacists properly recognised as the healthcare professionals we are. Being recognised as such will see our skills and expertise better and more fully utilised, and patients will be the ones to benefit. “As a pharmacist living and working more than 1600km from a state capital city, I understand the tyranny of distance and the importance of our community pharmacy network right across the country.“ As National President, I fully recognise the challenges that lie ahead in achieving such goals and in dealing with the challenges we face on an ongoing basis. We all know how challenging pharmacy can be, especially over the past 12 months and, realistically, into the next few years. I also recognise that the needs of community pharmacists differ across the country. The community pharmacies my wife, Georgina, and I operate and own are in North Queensland, and that gives us a good perspective for the regional, rural and remote sector. We know first-hand about the struggles of getting stock, of making sure we have medicines in supply to meet our patients’ needs, as well as training and keeping good team members. As a pharmacist living and working more than 1600km from a state capital city, I understand the tyranny of distance and the importance of our community pharmacy network right across the country. As such, I’ll work closely to see that the needs of this area of the community pharmacy network are addressed, as indeed I will for community pharmacies across the country, regardless of where they’re located. RETAIL PHARMACY • JUN 2021