On 3 November 2025, IPANZ President Jie Choong and Dr Catherine Crofts, Senior Lecturer at AUT and IPANZ volunteer, attended the Pharmacy Sector Lead Forum (PSLF) Strategy Workshop.
This workshop brought together pharmacy sector leaders from across Aotearoa to discuss how we can strengthen patient care, improve access to medicines, and enable pharmacists to practise to their full professional capability. It was a productive and forward-looking day, focused on how the sector can evolve to meet future health needs.
About the Pharmacy Sector Lead Forum
The PSLF provides a platform for collaboration between pharmacy’s key organisations. Its goal is to create a shared vision for the future of pharmacy in New Zealand, one that recognises pharmacists as essential members of the health system.
IPANZ is proud to have a seat at this table, ensuring that the perspectives of employee and locum pharmacists are heard and considered in national discussions about workforce sustainability and professional development.
This latest workshop, facilitated by Sapere Managing Director David Moore, built on the Common Purpose Statement released earlier this year. The session focused on identifying shared priorities and next steps toward a more accessible, sustainable, and patient-centred health system.
Minister of Health, Hon Simeon Brown, has acknowledged the vital contribution pharmacists make to New Zealand’s health system. The Minister expressed interest in hearing from the sector about how pharmacists can be better supported and utilised.
PSLF Membership
The Pharmacy Sector Lead Forum brings together representatives from:
Clinical Advisory Pharmacists Association (CAPA)
Independent Community Pharmacy Group (ICPG)
Independent Pharmacists’ Association of New Zealand (IPANZ)
Māori Pharmacists Association (MPA)
NZ Hospital Pharmacy Association (NZHPA)
Pharmacy Council of NZ (PCNZ)
Pharmacy Defence Association (PDA)
Pharmacy Guild of NZ (PGNZ)
Pacific Pharmacists Association (PPA)
Pharmaceutical Society of NZ (PSNZ)
University of Auckland
University of Otago
University of Waikato
Next Steps for IPANZ
IPANZ will continue to contribute to this work, ensuring that employee and locum pharmacists are actively represented in shaping the future of the profession.
Our focus remains on advocating for changes that improve workforce wellbeing, fair remuneration, and career sustainability, while promoting the vital role pharmacists play in patient care.
This engagement with PSLF marks another step forward in ensuring that every pharmacist’s voice -particularly those on the front line, is included in the conversations that will determine the future of pharmacy in New Zealand.