About the Guild

About the Community Pharmacy Network

There are over 5,700 community pharmacies equitably distributed around Australia.

Community pharmacies are the most frequently accessed and most accessible health destination in Australia, with over 455 million individual patient visits annually and the vast majority of pharmacies open after-hours, inclauding weekends.

Each year, community pharmacies dispense a total of over 211 million prescriptions, with a value of $10.6 billion and 460 million sales of over-the-counter products, with a value of $5.2 billion.

Australia’s community pharmacies employ over 70,000 staff directly, including approximately 20,000 registered pharmacists.

Pharmacists are one of the most trusted professions in Australia along with nurses and doctors. Public opinion surveys have shown that 84% of adults trust the advice they receive from pharmacists.

About the Guild

Formed in 1928, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia (the Guild) is a peak national employer organisation, which represents Australia’s community pharmacies.

The core role of the Guild is to represent the interests of Members in industrial matters in the Fair Work Commission and state jurisdictions as well as providing local member support and advice regarding workplace relations matters.

The majority of the proprietors of community pharmacies around Australia are direct Members of the Guild, with most of the remainder affiliated through the services that are provided by the Guild and its companies.

The Guild is governed by a National Council and Branch Committees in every State and Territory.

We own a number of successful companies, including the Guild Group (insurance, superannuation, legal, health care industry software solutions) and Gold Cross (products and services). Additionally, the Guild is part owner of FRED IT (dispensing, point-of-sale, prescription exchange).

Please refer to Guild’s Strategic Plan 2020-2022 for more information about our aims and objectives.

Our Beliefs

We believe in:

• Access to medicines and community pharmacy services for all Australians including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and older Australians
• Equity of health care standards across regional, rural, remote and metropolitan communities
• Diversity and inclusion
• Patient choice
• Quality and safety for patients and health consumers
• Compassion and community
• Professional practice

Our Vision

To embed community pharmacy as a key element in Australia’s primary health infrastructure.

Our Mission

To enable community pharmacy to serve the needs and preferences of patients and health consumers across Australia using pharmacy’s unique role in medication management and safety.

Focus Areas

We will deliver our Mission through four Focus Areas, with each area based on strategies, outcomes and measures.

Our Focus Areas are:

1. Member Services and Engagement
2. Advocacy
3. Community Pharmacy Sustainability; and
4. Governance and Enabling Functions

The Focus Areas will achieve the Guild’s Mission through ongoing advocacy, continuous improvement, best practice innovation and enduring business solutions that are underpinned by a stable industrial relations framework.

This ensures that our Members have a platform for a remunerated, independent role in disease state screening, treatment, management and referral, where patient choice and equity of access to medicines for all Australians is central to healthcare delivery.

Please refer to Guild’s Strategic Plan 2020-2022 for more information about our vision, mission and beliefs.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia is a single legal entity with branches in each state and territory to serve members and assist the National Council and National Executive in carrying out its aims and objectives.

Branch activities centre on the day-to-day servicing of members in such fields as industrial relations, marketing, staff training, and product and economic information.

The National Council is the supreme governing body. It lays down all Guild policies, decides major issues and has the power to amend the Constitution, subject to referendum where required. Supporting National Council in the development of policies is a number of national committees that undertake research, examine strategies, provide advice and recommend policy approaches.

The Executive Director is entrusted with implementing the policies and decisions of National Council through the National Secretariat, a small, flexible organisation with salaried, professional and administrative staff, and consultants engaged as required. The Secretariat is located in the Parliamentary Zone in Canberra, close to Parliament House. The National President works closely with the Executive Director and the Secretariat, and is the main spokesperson for the Guild. While always a pharmacist proprietor, the role of National President is effectively full-time.

National Secretariat operations focus on the following areas: Pharmacy Viability; Pharmacy Transformation; Engagement and Advocacy; and Corporate Governance and Services.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Corporate Structure
(PDF, 210.7 KB)

For membership enquiries: Contact our local branch membership managers in your state/territory.

For all other enquiries: Contact the Pharmacy Guild in the National Secretariat or your state/territory branch office.