PSA National Palliative Care Project Service Model Pilots
| Thursday, May 28, 2026 |
| 2:00 PM - 2:30 PM |
| Royal Poinciana |
Overview
Megan Tremlett - Senior Pharmacist - Consulting | PSA
Details
Medicines management in community palliative care is inherently complex. Patients nearing the end of life frequently experience rapid changes in symptoms, fluctuating functional status, and increasing medication burden. These challenges often occur in the context of limited caregiver capacity, multiple prescribers, and fragmented communication pathways between primary care, specialist services and community pharmacies, all of which may contribute unnecessary distress for patients and families, and avoidable presentations to hospital.
In Australia, pharmacists are not funded consistently or reliably to work within community-based interdisciplinary teams to support people with palliative care needs. Further, there is a lack of evidence describing the role and impact of pharmacists in this setting.
Against this backdrop, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia’s National Palliative Care Project 2023-2026 Service Model Pilots were undertaken with six Specialist Palliative Care services across Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland. The pilots explored embedded palliative care pharmacist models within community-based teams to optimise medicines use and support patients, their family/carers and the health professionals involved in patient care. This session will focus on key outcomes, learnings and recommendations arising from the pilots.
Learning objectives
- Discuss the emerging role of pharmacists in community-based Specialist Palliative Care teams
- Describe how findings and learnings from the pilots can be used to inform future models of pharmacist care and provide a basis for advocacy for the integration of pharmacists into community-based palliative care services across Australia
Speaker
Megan Tremlett
Senior Pharmacist - Consulting
PSA
PSA National Palliative Care Project Service Model Pilots
Biography
Megan works for PSA as a Senior Pharmacist in the Consulting Team. She is currently working on several palliative care projects, including PSA’s national palliative care grant initiatives.
Megan contributed to the development of Deadly Pharmacists: Foundation training course for pharmacists working within Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHOs). She was also part of PSA’s project team working on the redevelopment of the Guideline for pharmacists supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with medicines management.
Megan is a current member of PSA’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group and provides support to the new PSA Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Pharmacy Practice Community of Specialty Interest (CSI).
