AGY-74 | Pharmacy Board of New South Wales

Full description

The Board of Pharmacy of New South Wales was dissolved by the Pharmacy Act, 1897 (No.7, 1897). The new Act established the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales for the purpose of administering the provisions of the Poisons Act. The first Board was to consist of the President of the Board of Health and up to eight other eligible persons as the Governor may appoint. (1) The nominated Board members were gradually to be replaced by members elected by qualified pharmacists commencing one year after the appointment of the first Board when two members chosen by lot were to step down.

Elected members were to serve three year terms. (2) The Board members were to elect a President (3) The powers of the Board included
* appointment of a registrar
* examination of any person whom the Board may call before it: and
* making regulations under the Act. (4) The Pharmacy Board was required to keep a book, referred as "the Register" in which it entered, in alphabetical order, the names of registered pharmacists, their addresses an qualifications.(5)

The register was to remain accurate by recording changes of address and striking off those no longer eligible to practice. (6) The names of registered pharmacists was to be published each January in the NSW Government Gazette. (7) The Pharmacy (Amendment) Act, 1940 created an additional position on the Board to be appointed by the Governor on the nomination of the Friendly Societies' Association of New South Wales. This member was to serve terms of three years. (8) The Pharmacy Act (No.48, 1964) repealed the 1897 Act and reconstituted the Pharmacy Board. The new Board was to consist of eight members appointed by the Governor.

These were as follows:
* four pharmacists elected by registered pharmacists;
* The Under-Secretary of the Department of Public Health or person nominated by him;
* a nominee of the Senate of the University of Sydney;
* a nominee of the Friendly Societies' Association of NSW;
* a barrister or solicitor nominated by the Board. (9) The President was one of the elected pharmacists. (10)

The Board was reconstituted by the Pharmacy (Amendment) Act (Act No.44, 1969) The new Board was to comprise the eight members already in office and a pharmacist in business in an area outside the Counties of Cumberland or Northumberland or the City of Greater Wollongong appointed by the Governor on the nomination of the members of the Board. (11) By the Pharmacy (Amendment) Act, 1989 (Act No.224, 1989), the Pharmacy Board of New South Wales was constituted as a body corporate giving it a separate legal identity. (12) The Act set down the functions of the Board as follows:
(a) to promote and maintain the highest standards of professional conduct and ethics in the pharmacy profession
(b) to provide for education about pharmacy and for pharmaceutical research
(c) to consult with and to advise the appropriate authorities on standards of training programs for the purposes of this Act
(d) to determine the length and content of training and re-training programs for pharmacists
(e) to make recommendations in relation to education courses which form part of the requisite for registration
(f) to publish and distribute information concerning this Act and the regulations to pharmacists and other interested parties
(g) to publish reports, information and advice to the general public concerning any pharmaceutical matter
(h) to advise the Minister on matters relating to the registration of pharmacists, standards of pharmacy practice and any other matter arising under or related to this Act.
(i) to generally carry out all matters relating to the practice of pharmacy authorised or required by this Act. (13)

The Act altered the composition of the Board to consist of nine members as follows:
* Five members were to be pharmacists elected by the registered pharmacists
* Three members appointed by the Governor as follows:
(i) a pharmacist nominated by the governing body of the University of New South Wales
(ii) a barrister or solicitor
(iii) a person (other than a pharmacist) to represent the consumers of pharmacists' services
* An officer of the Department of Health nominated by the Minister. (14)

One of the elected members was to serve as President. (15) The Board was authorised to establish committees to deal with any of its functions except the handling of complaints against pharmacists. (16) Complaints were handled either by the Board itself or Professional Standards Committees. (17)

In 1996 the Board's primary functions were: promoting and maintaining the highest standard of professional conducts and ethics, assessment of the fitness to practise of applicants for registration, the registration pharmacists and pharmacies, the investigation of complaints against pharmacists, and the disciplining of pharmacists found guilty of professional misconduct (18).

The Pharmacy Council of New South Wales was established on 1 July 2010 (19) by the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) No 86a of 2009. (20) The National Boards were supported by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) which had an office in each State and Territory including New South Wales. In all States and Territories, with the exception of NSW, health professional National Boards and committees established by these boards were responsible for the regulation of health practitioners including pharmacists. In NSW the co-regulatory model for dealing with complaints against health professionals was retained with the creation of the Council and the continuation of the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) (21) and replaced the functions of the Board of Pharmacy of New South Wales.

Endnotes
1. Pharmacy Act, 1897 s. 1.
2. Ibid. s. 2.
3. Ibid. s. 3.
4. Ibid. s. 4.
5. Ibid. s.6.
6. Ibid. s. 8-9.
7. Ibid. s.10.
8. Pharmacy (Amendment) Act, 1940 s. 5(b) 2A.
9. Pharmacy Act, 1964 s. 4.
10. Ibid. s. 5(1).
11. Pharmacy (Amendment) Act, 1969 s. 2.
12. Pharmacy (Amendment) Act, 1989 s.4.
13. Ibid. s. 5.
14. Ibid. s. 6.
15. Ibid. s. 7.
16. Ibid. s. 8.
17. Ibid. Schedule 2, 19F.
18. NSW Government Directory, 1996.
19. Pharmacy Council of New South Wales, Annual Report, 2011, p.3.
20. Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) No 86a of 2009, NSW Legislation website, 1 July 2010.
21. Pharmacy Council of New South Wales, Annual Report, 2011, p.3.

References
(1) "Concise Guide" 2nd Edition. "Ma - Pl", "Pharmacy Board" p.65.