To be on the frontier of pharmacy is exciting enough for Tabitha Jones, but to be named the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia's NSW Pharmacist of the Year is the "icing on the cake".
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The Cowra-based practitioner said she was humbled to receive the annual award for her contribution to development of the profession because she believed her input has been quite "discreet".
"My role in integrated care is encouraging health professionals to work together to care for patients with complex health issues and through that I have been a strong advocate for the role of pharmacist," she said.
"Through my work I have been able to work closely with pharmacists in our area trying to acknowledge the good work they do, because pharmacists are an important member of the primary health care team."
As a demonstration site for the Western NSW Integrated Care Strategy, Ms Jones said in Cowra they have an opportunity to do things differently.
The strategy represents a major shift in focus from the hospital as the centre of health care to a broader outlook that encompasses the whole of the health care system, including general practice, community care and allied health services.
Part of that is folding the role of the pharmacist into the general practice team, based on other international models of care.
"The [pharmacy] profession is looking at new opportunities for pharmacists to be a part of that team and provide comprehensive patient care. General practice has been identified as one of the locations pharmacists could be utilised through," she said.
"During the planning stage of the Western NSW Integrated Care Strategy, we went to New Zealand and had a look at some models of care and how their pharmacists work from general practice as a clinician so as a part of their health care team and do a lot of work with patients, a bit different to just having an interaction at the pharmacy, they have a clinical patient load and help people with medications in a different setting."
Ms Jones sometimes works as a clinical pharmacist in the Kendal Street Medical Centre, which she says is defining a new way of working for pharmacists - without retail.
"[Having a pharmacist on board] strengthens your team as a general practice but also gives you another opportunity to have another health professional engaged in care," she said.
"As the population ages, chronic disease is increasing and that generally means an increase in the number of medications people are taking so there's lots of people who need support with their medications to take them safely and have the best outcomes from them so there's definitely plenty of work to be done for pharmacists."
She said the role of the pharmacist becomes even more vital the further you are from major population centres.
"Pharmacists especially in rural areas are so accessible. You can access a pharmacist in most small towns. You can walk in and see them, ring them, often they're one of the first ports of call so they are quite an important member of the healthcare team," she said.
"They do get overlooked sometimes because they're not the person that you think of first, but they tend to know their patients really well and are quite involved with what's happening with their healthcare, they have a very specialised role with their in-depth knowledge of medication."
