Speaking at the Medical Software Industry Association conference in Brisbane today, Executive Director Gerard Benedet said the future of community pharmacy was not a choice between innovation and compassion.
“It’s about balance. It’s about ensuring one enhances the other.
“With AI models around the world already making enormous leaps in healthcare service delivery, the message is clear: innovate or get left behind.”
But Mr Benedet cautioned with patients’ health, data and confidence on the line, moving too quickly towards AI-powered service, there was risk of losing the core of a deeply human profession.
“The Guild’s paper will balance a future-forward approach with an understanding of what makes community pharmacy a unique and enduring healthcare centre: pharmacists.
“As one of Australia’s most trusted professions, the strength of pharmacists’ relationship with their patients cannot be replaced by a program.
“...the Guild envisions systems that support pharmacies to deliver more advanced and personalised care with precise data, impactful analysis and efficient solutions.
Gerard Benedet - Executive Director, The Pharmacy Guild of Australia
“Keeping patients, ethics and accountability at the core of AI is crucial to maintaining trust in healthcare professionals, and a key consideration in the Guild’s policy proposals.”
Mr Benedet said these would contribute to robust frameworks support by the latest research and developments to meet the needs of patients, practitioners and practices.
“In just two years’ time, the Guild will mark its century—100 years. But as we look toward our centenary, the question isn't just how we celebrate our past—it’s how we prepare for the future.
“Let’s develop and build with intention, and shape a future where technology uplifts, supports, and strengthens – not replaces – the human heartbeat of primary healthcare.
“Community pharmacy's unique position in the healthcare system—highly trusted, deeply local, and nationally connected—means we have both the opportunity and the responsibility to guide AI’s integration in a way that enhances, not erodes, the human side of healthcare.
“AI must be a force for good. And in our hands, it will be.”
