Council News December 2021 

Council Message

Welcome to the final newsletter for 2021. We include a message from the Inspectors and also farewell Max Szwarcberg who has worked as an Inspector with the Pharmacy Council for the last 10 years, and many of you will know him from his visits to community pharmacies in NSW.   

We also include information from the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit on the misuse of fentanyl patches. This continues to be an area of risk to public safety due to the potential for overdose and the unit urges careful scrutiny when presented with prescriptions for fentanyl patches to ensure the prescriptions are legitimate and the use is appropriate.

SafeScriptNSW continues to roll out across the state in NSW with the list of Monitored Medicines now included in Appendix E in the NSW Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation (2008). Online Education and training modules are also provided for pharmacists on the use of SafeScriptNSW. The National Prescribing Service has produced some useful resources for prescribers and pharmacists on high-risk opioid use and a podcast which addresses approaching difficult conversations with patients about opioid use.

At the end of another difficult year impacted again by COVID-19, we hope that you can enjoy a break over the festive season and wish you all a happy and safe New Year.

Dr Joyce Cooper 
President, Pharmacy Council of NSW

Revised Public Health Order

From 31 January 2022, all primary care and other private sector health service providers are required to have had two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine. 

Read more on the NSW Health website

The revised Public Health Order extends vaccination requirements to health practitioners working in private and community settings, such as doctors, nurses and pharmacists, speech pathologists, dieticians and naturopaths. It will also cover support staff working in these practices.

Shopping for fentanyl

Doctor shopping, or the practice by patients of seeking prescriptions from multiple prescribers and presenting them at multiple pharmacies, has long been an area where pharmacists have needed to be extremely vigilant.

To the Proprietor – do you know your responsibilities?

Guidance for proprietors in relation to their role and required active interest in how the practice of pharmacy is being conducted.

Going away or shutting up/down
(English is a great language when “up” equals “down”)

Advice on providing customers with appropriate notice of pharmacy closures.

Pharmacy Council Election Result

On Friday 3 December 2021, the NSW Electoral Commission declared the candidates listed below elected to the Pharmacy Council. We look forward to welcoming the new members to the Council next year.  The terms for the elected members will commence on 1 April 2022

• Caroline Diamantis
• John Bronger
• Rick Samimi
• Quinn On
• Kate Gray

Pharmacy Inspector Max Szwarcberg retires

Most pharmacists in New South Wales will be familiar with our two inspectors who in the last few years,  have visited all (around 2000) pharmacies in the state.

One of our inspectors, Max Szwarcberg, after indicating that his visit recently might be his last to your pharmacy has pulled up stumps, and taken his bat and ball home. He has used up his long service leave becoming an immuniser, and after more than 29 years working for NSW Health, originally at the Pharmaceutical Services Branch (PSB) and the last 10 years as a Pharmacy Council Inspector/Investigator, has retired with effect from 31 August 2021.

After completing his university studies and prior to joining the public service, Max spent about 20 years managing community pharmacies before joining PSB in the early nineties, where he was involved in issuing licences to wholesalers of therapeutic goods and carried out investigations under the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods legislation.

In 2011, Max commenced work with the Pharmacy Council and from that time focussed on visiting pharmacists and pharmacies.

One of Max’s favourite pastimes is cruising and although stymied by the Covid pandemic in the last two years, has over the years been on over 30 cruises with his wife Rosemary. It is understood that they are planning four more in the next couple of years commencing in October 2022.

Max was always ready for a chat particularly if it centred around skiing, Harley Davidson riding or cruising. More recently the Harley was superseded by an Italian Piaggio motor scooter to get to golf where he has managed to lower his handicap since his retirement.

We were sorry to lose Max as he is a keen barbequer for our staff functions, but he has been prevailed upon to join us with a further appearance at this year’s end of year staff lunch.

We wish Max well in his retirement. We will miss him very much and perhaps you will too.

Useful links

NPS MedicineWise provides a guide for medical practitioners and pharmacists on ‘high risk opioid use – 10 things you need to know’, and a podcast on the topic:

High risk opioid use – 10 things you need to know

Podcast - Approaching difficult conversations with patients about opioid use

If you would like to provide feedback or make a complaint about our administrative and business processes, you can do this using our online form or by emailing us at mail@hpca.nsw.gov.au