Vaccination in pharmacy update

Pharmacist-administered vaccination is one of the many ways community pharmacy improves public health and is a growing and continually evolving service.

Most recently, approved community pharmacies in Tasmania can now vaccinate children 10 years and over with the ACWY strain meningococcal vaccine so it’s important that you understand your QCPP requirements.  

To help keep you up to speed, we’ve compiled a few important points and answers to common questions around vaccination and QCPP accreditation.

Can I provide a pharmacist-administered vaccination service with only one pharmacist on duty?
The QCPP requirements for providing a vaccination with a sole pharmacist rostered on are similar to those around MedsChecks, which we covered in a QIP newsletter in May.

You can provide a pharmacist-administered vaccination service with only one pharmacist on duty, so long as:

  • the pharmacist providing the vaccination service is not responsible for dispensing or undertaking other professional services at the same time
  • you have a system or process in place to ensure that the pharmacist providing the vaccination service is not undertaking dispensing or professional duties whilst the service is being conducted.

During your QCPP assessment, your assessor will ask for an explanation, with evidence, of how you ensure that the pharmacist and the patient have an uninterrupted vaccination service. Evidence may include:

  • a documented procedure which ensures that dispensing or other professional services do not occur during a vaccination service
  • a staff roster showing multiple pharmacists on duty
  • script volume, demonstrating peaks and troughs
  • records showing provision of a vaccination service outside of your normal operating hours.

Does QCPP require my pharmacy to have a consultation room to provide vaccinations?
QCPP requires that you have a dedicated area to enable the vaccination service to be provided. Mandatory requirements include:

  • a screened area to ensure consumer privacy is maintained, and to lie down if required
  • that access to the vaccination area is safe and appropriate and does not put your pharmacy or the patient at risk (e.g. the patient should not be required to walk through or past the dispensary or S4 medicines)
  • an area that it is free from interruptions
  • access to a hand hygiene procedure and to hand hygiene facilities
  • an appropriate area to for the patient to sit and allow for observations for a minimum of 15 minutes following administration of the vaccine

Please log into the Knowledge Hub and download the T3M – Vaccination Services in the Pharmacy Checklist to understand all your QCPP requirements. 

It is your responsibility to ensure that your vaccination area complies with your jurisdictional legislation, as well as QCPP requirements. For example, in some states a dedicated consultation room is mandatory, or you may be required to provide reports to your health department.

Can I expand the scope of accreditation to include vaccinations? 
Absolutely. If you would like to provide an additional service or program during your two-year accreditation cycle, simply complete and submit an application for Expansion of Professional Service including supporting documentation and evidence.

QCPP celebrates two years of partnership with EY

July 2018 marked two years of EY working with us to provide QCPP on-site assessments in pharmacies throughout Australia.

We’re very proud of the strong and successful working relationship that QCPP and EY have developed. Over the last two years EY assessors have completed 5,762 QCPP on-site assessments!

The integration and continuous improvement that has been applied over the last two years will see us to continue to build on the strong relationship and program into the future. Based on EY’s positive performance and success of the relationship, we are pleased to have extended our contract with EY to June 2022.


August 2018 QCPP statistics
Number of QCPP assessments completed in August:
NSW:45  VIC:43  QLD:46  SA:11 ACT:4  WA:25  TAS:5  NT:0  Australia-wide:179

Percentage of pharmacies currently QCPP accredited:
NSW:95.5%  VIC:92.3%  QLD:95.2%  SA:97.8%  ACT:97.4%  WA:96%  TAS:96%  NT:97.5%  Australia-wide:95%