4.Developing Leaders and Owners in Pharmacy Committee (DLOPC)
This year the Pharmacy Guild’s Women and Young Pharmacists’ Committee (WYPC) has evolved into a new body called Developing Leaders and Owners in Pharmacy Committee (DLOPC).
The objectives of the committee remain broadly the same – promoting partnerships, ownership, succession planning and the pursuit of leadership roles in community pharmacy.
The DLOPC will facilitate the Guild’s long-term goal of pharmacists to own pharmacies and take up leadership roles within their profession.
In 1997 the Pharmacy Guild’s National Council recognised the need for succession planning given the then ageing, predominantly male pharmacy proprietor workforce, and the reluctance of female graduates to take on ownership roles. At this time, only 19 per cent of owners of community pharmacy were women; despite women comprising 59 per cent of university pharmacy graduates.
To address these low female ownership figures, the WYPC was established – marking a definitive step in the Guild’s history.
The purpose of the committee was to encourage more women and young pharmacists to purchase their own pharmacy and also to pursue leadership roles within the Guild and the profession more broadly.
Community pharmacy demographic figures from 2010 show an increase in female participation:
- 78 per cent of pharmacy graduates
- 33 per cent of pharmacy owners
It is predicted that in 2015, 83 per cent of pharmacy graduates and possibly 55 per cent of owners of community pharmacies will be women.
This year was again very successful for the committee.
WYPC highlights for the past 12 months included:
- Development and launch of New Pharma online diagnostic tool
- APP Breakfast Educational
- Successful Pharmacy Women’s Congress held in Cairns
- National Student Business Plan Competition – improved format and increased entries
