principal consultant in national health ...

40 years in the field...

SHPA, NSW TAG, NPS, CEC, and more...

CV and Experience

Aim: To contribute significantly to medication safety in NSW, both nationally and internationally

Qualifications: 

B Pharm, Victorian College of Pharmacy, 1970
Registered pharmacist, NSW
Fellow of the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, (FSHP)
Certificate in Health Economics, Monash University Vic

Experience:   

State Relieving pharmacist, Hospitals and Charities Commission VIC  1971-4               
Clinical Pharmacist, Senior, Deputy and Acting Director, Woden Valley Hospital, Australian Capital Territory Health Commission  1974-82                
Deputy Director of Pharmacy, Westmead Hospital 1983 - 2004               
Pharmacy Services Manager, The Children's Hospital at Westmead  2005 - 2011               
Principal Advisor, Medication Safety, NSW Department of Health  2009  

Professional Membership:

Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (Fellow and past Federal Councillor)
  • Committees of Specialty Practice:
    • Medication Safety
    • Drug Distribution  (Chair)
    • Parenteral Services (Secretary)
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (prev)        
American Society of Health-System Pharmacists        
Australian Patient Safety Foundation (prev)        
Australian Coordinator - Medication Error Reporting - Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Inc., USA        
Australian Association for Quality in Health Care (prev)

Recent Consultancies and Commissions

Confidential Code of Conduct - review for the Pharmacy Council of NSW (Jun - Jul 2011)
Indicator review - project for NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group (Oct 2011 – Feb 2012)
Education presentation - project for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (Jan 2012)
“Medication Safety Mandated” - workshops for the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS).
Medication safety consultancy in South Australia on referral from the ACHS
Review of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing and Quality Control in SA Hospitals (as an associate of md&a) (2012-13)
Review of medication management practices at THE TRAVEL DOCTOR (TMVC) Australia (2013)
Review of Operating Model for Pharmaceutical Compounding in the Tasmanian Health Service (as associate of md&a working with PharmConsult Pty Ltd) (June-July 2017)
Performance Assessment, Compounding practice - NSW Pharmacy Council (Oct 2018)
Peer Review of Functional Design Brief and Schedule of Accommodation - Children’s Hospital Westmead (Sept 2020)
Peer Review of Functional Design Brief and Schedule of Accommodation - Sydney Children’s Hospital (Sept 2020)
Review of Pharmacy Department Aseptic and Oncology Compounding Suite designs - The Children’s Hospital at Westmead Stage 2 Redevelopment – (Dec 2020)

ASEPTIC COMPOUNDING COURSES

Aseptic Compounding Courses conducted as associate of md&a for:
  • Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District Nowra Base Hospital (2014)
  • Genea Biomedx (2015)
  • Sydney Local Health District Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (2015)
  • Northern Sydney Local Health District Royal North Shore Hospital (2015)
  • Tasmanian Health Service Royal Hobart Hospital (2015)
  • Sydney Local Health District Concord Hospital (2016)
  • Tasmanian Health Service, Launceston and Royal Hobart Hospitals (Aug 2018)
  • Tasmanian Health Service, Launceston (Feb 2019)
  • Western Private Hospital, Footscray, Vic (May 2021)
  • Tasmanian Health Services, Royal Hobart Hospital (May 2021)
  • Western NSW Local Health District, Dubbo Base Hospital (Sep 2021)

Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing 

Medicines Coding Council of Australia   1997-9        
MediConnect Development Group (Better Medication Management System (BMMS)  1997-2002
Medication Taskforce, Safety & Quality Council of Australia  1997 - 2006        
National Medication Chart Working Party, AS&QC  2004 - 6        
HealthConnect Clinical Reference Group  2004 - 6        
Trans-Tasman Working Party, Medicines Labelling, Therapeutic Goods Administration of Australia 2004 - 6               
Represented Australia at the inaugural meeting of the International Network of Safe Medication Practice Centres (INSMPC - as ISMP representative), Salamanca,   Spain, with support of the Chairman of the Australian Commission on Safety & Quality in Healthcare  2006               
National Medication Scoping Study -Australian Commission on Safety & Quality in Healthcare 
2008 - 9  

Department of Health New South Wales

User Committee - dev. User System Specification for a Hospital Pharmacy Computer System  1985-6
Health Vision Australia, RxVision User Committee   1992
Chairman, HCS Pharmacy Computer System User Committee  1990-2      
Pharmacy IT System Working Group 1992-3
National Steering Group for Implementation of the NCCTG Standard for Preparation of Pharmaceuticals in Australian Hospital Pharmacy Departments. 1994
Cytotoxic Drugs Working Party, WorkCover Authority, NSW  1994-5             
Published:  "Guidelines for Handling Cytotoxic Drugs and Related Waste in Health Care Establishments and Training Competencies for Handling"         
Cytotoxic Drugs in Health Care Establishments.  1995-2003 
Hospital Pharmacy Computer System Steering Committee - NSW Department of Health.  1996-8 
Clinical Information Access Project representative 1997 - 2008 
Clinical Council and Clinical Services Reference Group, Clinical Excellence Commission, NSW
NSW Therapeutic Advisory Group - SAFER Medication Taskforce 2003-11               
PIMS Project Board - to Australianise the ISMP Medication Safety Self-Assessment tool  2004 - 6
Hospital Pharmacy Advisors- Group - 2005 - 9
Statewide Medication Safety Strategy Steering Committee (NSW Health) 2006-9
Secretariat, Medication Safety Expert Advisory Group (NSW Health) 2009                       
Chair, Paediatric National Inpatients Medication Chart Working Party (NSW Health)   2009
Contract Management Advisory Group, Health Support (NSW) Hospital Pharmacy representative 2007-8

Education roles:

Medical Terminology - Pharmacology.  External Course conducted by Westmead Hospital.  Two lecture series delivered bi-annually.  1983 - 93
Intravenous Drug Technology.  50% course work & practical, Diploma of Hospital Pharmacy, postgraduate students, Sydney University, 1987-9         
NSW Branch, Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia. 1987 Quality assurance in an intravenous admixture service, Westmead Hospital., and Staff Appraisal Workshop convenor, Management Seminar on Quality Assurance        
Preparation of TPN Solutions - Nutritional Support - A Team Approach.  NSW Branch, Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, evening lecture series. 1987        
Hospital Pharmacy Component Lectures to the NSW Dispensary Assistants Training Course, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, NSW.  1988 - 93        
Medication Errors - Report of Westmead Study ACT Branch, Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia, 1991        
Medication Safety lectures to sixth year medical students, University of Sydney, Westmead Hospital
Medical/Surgical Intern Orientation to safe medication practices, annually, Westmead Hospital and Children's Hospital, Westmead
The electronic medication record. Master of Health Science (Health Informatics). School of Health Information Management, The University of Sydney, 2001 - 4        
Pharmacy IT and Safety, 4th Year Pharmacy Curriculum, The University of Sydney, 2003        
Hospital Pharmacy Assessor - Pharmacist Registration Examinations,   Pharmacy Board of NSW 1993-2004               
Preceptor/Licensed Mentor, Certificate IV in Hospital/Health Services Pharmacy
Support - Pharmacy Technicians, Charles Sturt University.  2007

Administrative roles:

Secretary, Drug Committee and Convenor, Medication Incident Review Sub- committee, Westmead Hospital 1989 - 2003               
Westmead Management Team Nominee - Adverse Drug Event, International Collaborative, Breakthrough Series, IHI Roundtable  2001               
Secretary, Western Sydney Area Health Service, Drug Committee  1996 - 2003                
WSAHS Nominee to High Cost Drugs Roundtable, Glenelg, SA  2003               
Secretary, Drug Committee and Chair, Medication Safety Committee, Service Improvement Unit, Children's Hospital at Westmead  2004 - 9 

Professional development:

MEDLARS/BIOSIS analyst - National Library of Australia               
Instructional Techniques - In-service training course, Westmead Hospital  1985
SHPA Management Seminars - attended annually
Structured Analysis for End-Users  DP Education (Seminars) Pty. Ltd., R. Thomsett 1986
Financial Management for Hospital Pharmacists - SHPA  1996               
SHPA NSW Evening Lecture series, attended monthly Contamination Control Course - Design and Operation of Clean Facilities.  Dr. P. Austin 1989               
Quality Assurance Seminar.  Committee of Specialty Practice in Quality Assurance, SHPA.  Victorian College of Pharmacy, Parkville, Victoria. 1990               
Quality Management Seminar - From QA to QM.  Westmead Hospital  1990               
Clinical Pharmacy Residential School.  SHPA.  Westmead Hospital.  Course Assessor. 1991
BRS Basic Training Course, Biomedical Course and Fulltext Search Techniques Course.  Maxwell On-line  1991               
Facilitating Better Meetings 1/92 Western Sydney Area Health Service  1992               
Cleanroom Design and Operations.  National GMP Consulting Services  1992               
Therapeutic Drug Monitoring - Assessing the Outcomes. Dept.of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology/Dept. of Pharmacy, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney.          
ASCEPT Satellite Seminar  1992               
Indicators for Allied Health Professionals.  The Association for Quality in Healthcare. 1993
 Certificate in Management - Advanced.  (11/93)  Western Sydney Area Health Service 1993
Effective Report Writing - 1 day seminar (6/93) Western Sydney Area Health Service 1993
Management for Clinicians (4).  Westmead Hospital/University of Western Sydney, Nepean.  1 week course, Terrigal, NSW  Nominee of Division of Allied Health, WSAHS  1994               
Improving Personal Communication. (2/94) Human Resources Department, Western Sydney Area Health Service  1994               
Seminar attendee and participant, Human Factors Analogies in Aviation and Health Care Safety Seminar.  The Australian Aviation Psychology Association in conjunction with the NSW Ministerial Council for Safety & Quality in Health Care 2000
Medication Safety Workshop, Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care, Sydney (invited participant)  2001               
Invitee, Medication Safety Collaborative organising committee, workshop for frontline staff, project identification workshop  2003               
Business writing,  NSW Department of  Health  2010

Employment:

Internship, Footscray and District Hospital Pharmacy,

VIC


State Relieving pharmacist,

Hospitals and Charities Commission VIC  1971-4


Clinical Pharmacist, Senior, Deputy and Acting Director,

Woden Valley Hospital, Australian Capital Territory Health Commission 1974-82 


Deputy Director of Pharmacy,

Westmead Hospital 1983 - 2004


Pharmacy Services Manager,

The Children's Hospital at Westmead  2005 - 2011


Principal Advisor, Medication Safety,

NSW Department of Health  2009