Jamie Thannoo FORTY graduate pharmacists can

University in Queensland began preparing a five-year extended mas-

Qualifications Framework meant students already part way through a

UNSW Sydney also offers a Level 9 qualification as part of a five-year

already call themselves‘ doctor’

ter’ s degree to confer the title, while

Level 9 pharmacy qualification— an

combined bachelor’ s and master’ s

despite not knowing they would

extended master’ s— could receive the

degree for pharmacists.

receive the title when they started their degrees.

Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler announced last year that pharmacists who completed an

Students part way through degrees could get the title.

title as soon as the change was official.

Griffith University in Queensland said 34 students had graduated from its Master of Pharmacy( extended) program in March and April 2025 and

However, because the program only started in 2023, its first‘ doctors’ will not graduate until 2027.

According to the co-ordinator for the new University of WA degree, Dr

extended master’ s degree could call

had received the‘ doctor’ title.

Amy Page( PhD), the qualifications

themselves‘ doctors’, similar to cer-

the University of WA began pre-

Another six students who gradu-

will support more pharmacists to

tain dentists, vets, optometrists and

paring a one-year online degree for

ated from Charles Darwin University’ s

take up undersubscribed work, such

Dr Amy Page( PhD).

physiotherapists. Subsequently, James Cook

already-qualified pharmacists. But the change to the Australian

extended master’ s program in May gained the title in the same way.

as medication reviews and diabetes education.

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them all,” the

tribunal said.

“[ We accept ] those messages

were lighthearted

banter.

“ They are redolent with

punctuation and capitals for

emphasis, emojis, and refer

to various subjects of a social

nature.”

The GP told the tribunal

that they had met again

in person at a gathering of

mutual friends and that their

relationship had evolved

naturally.

It had become sexual in

May 2020, and the GP had left

the practice about six weeks

later.

Another GP gave expert

evidence to the tribunal that

doctor – patient boundaries

were challenging in“ small

community settings” based

on his firsthand experience,

saying he had practised for 29

years in the town where he

grew up and where his children

went to school.

The tribunal— which also

said the patient had recurrent

pain, not chronic pain—

concluded that there was no

evidence the GP had taken

advantage of the patient.

“ The tribunal accepts that

age can be relevant to vulnerability

as a general principle,

but there is no evidence that it

was in this particular case.”

It said the therapeutic relationship

was short, uncomplicated

and“ ended naturally”.

“ The tribunal finds that

the sexual relationship

started in the context of

activities totally disassociated

with the doctor – patient

relationship.”