UNIT 602: THE AUSTRALIAN HEALTHCARE AND
PHARMACEUTICAL ENVIRONMENT

Overview

This unit provides an overview of the Australian healthcare system with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry. It examines healthcare legislation and regulations, the pharmaceutical industry, community pharmacies, hospitals, relevant professional peak bodies and consumer groups and how they shape the pharmaceutical supply infrastructure.

Health professionals and managers studying this unit will gain an understanding of the key stakeholders within the health system and how they interact and impact on healthcare delivery in Australia.

Aims

After studying this unit you should be able to:

• identify the key stakeholders within the Australian healthcare system, with a focus on the pharmaceutical industry
• outline the roles, functions and challenges of stakeholders
• describe the key mechanisms in the funding of pharmaceutical provisions
• critically analyse key government policies and commercial strategies pertaining to the supply of pharmaceuticals.

Topics

• Introduction to the Australian Healthcare System
• Healthcare legislation and regulations
• The role of Government in healthcare and therapeutic goods provision
• The primary healthcare sector
• Community pharmacy
• The hospital system
• Site selection and store layout of a pharmacy
• Pharmacy planning
• Pharmacy design
• Tender and implementation

Unit Chair and Study Guide Author

Mr Bill Suen
BPharm, BHealth Administration, MBA, MPS

Bill is a graduate of The Victorian College of Pharmacy before obtaining other post graduate qualifications in management by part-time, off-campus learning. He has a wide range of senior management experience in both the public and the private sectors. Key pharmacy management positions held include General Manager (Slade Pharmacy and Medical Group), Director of Pharmacy Service (Western Health Care Network), Pharmacy Manager (Terry White Chemist, The Glen). Outside pharmacy, Bill has had corporate management experience as the General Manager of PJA Computer Consultants Pty Ltd, a leading pathology and clinical software company in Australia. Bill has established and taught in postgraduate pharmacy management and pharmaceutical sales programs at Monash University. He is currently a Victorian councillor of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, a practising community pharmacy proprietor and the principal consultant of Pharmaceutical Business Solutions Pty Ltd.