LEARNING GLOBALLY AND INSPIRING LOCALLY: The quest to create an Australian framework for a Palliative Care Pharmacist

With
Helen Stone, SA/NT State and Territory Manager
Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA)

PEOPLE IN HEALTH CARE SEGMENT
Filmed in Adelaide | February 2026

Helen is the State and Territory Manager SA & NT for the Pharmaceutical Society Australia. Her professional interests include palliative care, pharmacist professional services, mental health, leadership, and management.

With a strong vision for expanding pharmacist roles, Helen has effectively leveraged the expertise of GP pharmacists, aged care pharmacist pioneers and key research studies to implement funded service delivery programs. In recent projects, she has led teams of pharmacists in innovative pharmacy practice models including in aged care, GP practice, palliative care and dementia support. This has contributed to the body of evidence for sustainable funding for embedded pharmacist roles in primary care and aged care settings.

Helen is a member of Palliative Care Australia’s National Expert Advisory Panel and continues as an inaugural member of the SA Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board.

She provides regular expert opinion for legislation and pharmacist programs across her jurisdiction including vaccinations by pharmacists, voluntary assisted dying, palliative care and innovative pharmacist practice.

She is a graduate of the AICD, the SA Governor’s Leadership Foundation program and in 2020 was awarded an Churchill Trust fellowship. Helen travelled to Canada, the UK and New Zealand to articulate a framework for the role of Palliative Care Pharmacist in community and aged care in Australia.

The  role of the pharmacist in a multidisciplinary team is not well understood even though medications are a key enabler for people to die in the place of their choosing. Pharmacists are medication experts and palliative care pharmacists are currently only engaged in the acute care setting. The pharmacist facilitates communication with specialist services as the medicines expert on prescribing and de-prescribing medicines. Palliative Care pharmacists should be accessible in the community, aged care and other care settings outside of acute hospitals and Helen’s project  articulated a framework for the role in an Australian context.

Recently, Helen was awarded a Fellowship of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia in recognition of her significant advancement of the practice of pharmacists and outstanding contribution to the Society over an extended period of time.

Source: Supplied and referenced from the Winston Churchill Trust website