In the Greek suburbs of Sydney’s inner west, Caroline Diamantis has ran her pharmacy for over two decades.

“I have owned this current pharmacy for 17 years and have ‘grown older’ with many of my customers as we have shared stories of sick children, raising our families, juggling work and home. They’re like extended family.”

Recently appointed National Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Diamantis has spent more than thirty years in the profession. Running a pharmacy has never been just a job Diamantis said, and points to “the trust and loyalty from the community”.

“To be part of these families’ lives and guide them in their health journeys.”

Over the years she’s been invited to special events, weddings, shared lunches and coffee dates, becoming friends along the way.

Her father, also a pharmacist, emigrated from Alexandria in Egypt to Australia in the 1950s with her mother—part of the great post-colonial exodus that brought Greek families to Marrickville and other working-class suburbs of Sydney. There, in the aisles of her father’s shop, she grew up serving customers from a young age.

“I became passionate,” she recalls, “about how much opportunity there was for pharmacists to care for their community and I was determined to become one. I was very fortunate to have been able to follow my dreams from a very early age.”

Changing role for pharmacists

If the pharmacist’s role once hovered on the periphery of medical authority, Diamantis has witnessed, and even been part of a significant shift.

“We are, and have always been, the medication experts,” she says. But now, more than ever, pharmacists are stepping forward, providing many more valuable services to our communities.

In Australia today, pharmacists can assess and prescribe treatments for conditions such as urinary tract infections, shingles, and even offer oral contraceptive advice.

“There are many more minor ailments we will be able to diagnose and prescribe for in the next few years in a program designed to support our local doctors and allow them to look after the more complex medical cases.”

The COVID-19 pandemic played an important part. While many clinics shut their doors or switched to telehealth, pharmacies stayed open, often becoming de facto urgent care centres. “We remained open everyday and expanded our practice to include many minor ailment consultations as well as assisting in the National vaccine roll out,” Diamantis says. “Pharmacists became invaluable in caring for our communities.”

The shift hasn’t been seamless. Not all pharmacies have the capacity or willingness to undergo the necessary compulsory training to offer these expanded services. This has resulted in what she terms a “fragmented offer” which might be confusing to the public. Without a universal rollout of Medicare-funded pharmacist consultations, services like minor ailment assessments remain a private cost to the patient. “There are no free consultations in pharmacy,” she says pointedly. “That creates an unfair situation whereby those economically better off will be healthier. This is not the Australian way.”

Across the country, there are more than 6,000 pharmacies, many in small rural towns that lack a resident GP.

“In these towns the pharmacist is the medical expert and looks after many sick people needing medical care on a daily basis.”

As National Vice President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, Diamantis works across education, regulation, and policy, advocating for both the profession and the pharmacists practicing in diverse settings.

“The PSA is the national Peak Body representing Pharmacy. We are the go-to for education and advice. I attend conferences, present at events, liaise with the universities, and attend government advocacy meetings where we discuss things like scope of practice and what the future of pharmacy looks like.”

It’s a busy role, she concedes. Alongside running a business, raising a family and being a wife.

“But the rewards have made the challenges all worth it.”

“It’s important to me to be a voice of women in leadership, and a role model for those to follow.”

Trade tensions and the PBS

Last month, Australia watched international trade tensions threaten to spill into the pharmaceutical sector, raising concerns that it might impact the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme which ensures equitable access for all Australians to life saving drugs.

After the US president signalled a potential 250 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals, one of Australia’s top exports to the American market, Health Minister Mark Butler expressed his concern last week stating that “we’re working intensively to press the case for maintaining free trade.”

The Australian government has already categorically ruled out touching the PBS in any trade negotiations.

Diamantis is confident that the PBS is not at risk. “It is a foundational part of Australia’s health system. It won’t be compromised regardless of international politics.”

The government, she points out, has repeatedly demonstrated its commitment, most recently with legislation to reduce the maximum patient co-payment to $25 (from $31.60) by January 2026.

Whilst many Australians still struggle to afford medicines for the entire family at times, due to the cost of living crisis, “they are still very much aware how lucky we are in Australia compared to many other countries in the world.”

The future of pharmacy

Today, pharmacists can be found not only in community pharmacies, but in hospitals, aged care homes, general practices, government advisory panels, Aboriginal outreach clinics and digital health startups.

“We are medicine experts and have a specialised skillset which combines preventative, screening and risk assessment expertise, as well as disease diagnosis and management. I firmly believe that in the future, pharmacists will be everywhere there are medicines and people who need care.”

In the community setting, Diamantis expects more and more pharmacists will become qualified to diagnose and prescribe. “It will be normal to make an appointment with the pharmacist for minor ailment care.”

She hopes to see a profession which works collaboratively with all allied health care professionals to bring the best patient care possible.

While the transition might be confusing and hard work, “I believe we are on the way to this exciting new world. I’m confident this will be the face of the future of Pharmacy.”