Retail
Exploring the Drivers of Shortages of Community Pharmacy
We're exploring the factors contributing to workforce shortages in community pharmacy roles and identifying evidence-based solutions to strengthen workforce development, improve staff retention and inform training and policy development.
Project Phase
- Project initiation: Sept 2025
- Research and consultation: Aug - Dec 2025
- Analysis and report development: Dec 2025 - Jun 2026
- Final report submission: Oct - Nov 2026
- Final report publication expected: Dec 2026
Project overview
Community pharmacy plays a vital role in Australia’s retail sector, providing medications, primary healthcare services and advice to local communities, particularly in regional and remote areas.
As the role of community pharmacy continues to evolve, demand for skilled workers remains elevated, with occupations such as retail pharmacists and pharmacy technicians experiencing shortages.
Through the Explore the Drivers of Shortages for Community Pharmacy project, SaCSA aims to better understand where and why these workforce shortages exist.
The project will draw on workforce and training data, alongside industry stakeholder consultations, to examine factors influencing career attractiveness, staff retention, workforce and skills gaps, and the effectiveness of existing training pathways.
Findings will inform evidence-based recommendations to strengthen workforce development, improve training alignment and support the long-term sustainability of the community pharmacy sector. The findings will also inform the Review of Pharmacy Qualifications project.
Why this project matters
The role of community pharmacy has evolved significantly, particularly since COVID-19, with pharmacies expanding their services to include more healthcare consultations in areas such as weight management, chronic disease support, asthma and cardiovascular care.
These changes have increased staffing needs and created additional upskilling requirements, particularly in areas such as immunisation delivery and digital health tools. There is also an increased focus on safety awareness and the dispensing of over-the-counter medications to support pharmacists.
Jobs and Skills Australia has identified pharmacy technicians as an occupation in shortage since 2023, with the 2025 Occupation Shortage List indicating regional shortages. These workforce pressures highlight the importance of understanding the factors influencing workforce supply and demand, training pathways, workplace conditions and retention across community pharmacy support roles.
Despite growing workforce pressures across the sector, targeted research into community pharmacy roles remains limited. Without deeper insights, training systems and workforce policy risk falling out of step with the realities of work and business operations.
A deeper understanding of these challenges is important to informing workforce planning and training development that better reflects the realities of working in the community pharmacy sector.
This project will:
Profile
Assess
Evaluate
Examine
Identify
Recommend
Project team
Glenn Evans
Product & Project Development Lead
Nicole Venter
Stakeholder Engagement Manager – Retail
Dishan Jayasekera
Research & Analysis Manager
Burhanuddin Bootwala
Research & Data Analyst
