General information
This guide is based on publicly available information from official sources, including the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, Services Australia, Healthdirect and other Australian Government health and pharmacy bodies. It is general information, not personal medical advice, and may change over time. With any medicine, always read the label and use only as directed, and if symptoms persist see your doctor or health care professional. Check anything that affects you with your pharmacist or GP. In an emergency, call 000.
Australians use "chemist" and "pharmacy" to mean the same thing: the shop you go to for prescriptions, vaccinations, and over-the-counter medicines. The shop is the same whichever word you use. The word that does matter is "pharmacist", the registered health practitioner you deal with at the counter. A pharmacist dispenses your prescription, gives you medication advice, runs vaccinations, and, under state-based pharmacist prescribing programs, can now treat a short list of everyday conditions without a doctor first in a growing number of states. So "I am going to the chemist" and "I am going to the pharmacy" describe the same trip, while "I would like to speak to the pharmacist" is a different request: you are asking for the qualified person rather than a counter assistant. For the wider picture, see our guide to finding a pharmacy in Australia.
Why do we say "chemist" and "pharmacy"?
"Chemist" is the older Australian word. It traces back to the British "chemist and druggist" tradition, where a trained chemist prepared medicines on the premises, and Australia kept the habit. Regulators use "pharmacy" in formal documents, and most people still say "chemist", and both are correct. In casual conversation the two are interchangeable; in professional and regulatory contexts, "pharmacy" is the standard word for the shop.
What is a pharmacist trained to do?
A pharmacist in Australia is a registered health practitioner, not a shop assistant. To practise, a pharmacist must hold an accredited pharmacy degree (a Bachelor or Master of Pharmacy), complete a year of supervised internship, pass the Australian Pharmacy Council's intern examinations, and be registered with the Pharmacy Board of Australia through the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). That registration is public and checkable in real time on the AHPRA register, where every working pharmacist appears with their qualifications and any conditions on their registration.
Beyond dispensing, a pharmacist's day-to-day work includes vaccinations (state immunisation programs set the scope, typically adult and, in most states, childhood immunisations, whooping cough in pregnancy, and most travel vaccines, with yellow fever the main exception, as it needs an approved centre), medication reviews including a MedsCheck or a Home Medicines Review, and continued dispensing, an emergency supply of a regular medicine when you have run out and cannot reach a prescriber in time, once in a 12-month period (Continued dispensing, PBS). Under state-based pharmacist prescribing programs, a pharmacist can also treat some minor or ongoing conditions directly in a growing number of states, an uncomplicated urinary tract infection or a resupply of hormonal contraception being the common examples. The scope is set by each state and keeps expanding, so it is worth checking what is available where you are.
The pharmacist is the one who can check your medicines and advise you, and in most pharmacies they will come to the counter within a few minutes of being asked.
What makes a shop a pharmacy?
A pharmacy is a retail premises licensed to dispense medicines, and it operates under strict rules. It must be owned by a registered pharmacist (or, in a few states, a friendly society, a member-based mutual with a long-standing exemption), meet the state ownership and location rules that sit under the National Health Act, keep a registered pharmacist on duty whenever the doors are open, and hold a current licence from the state pharmacy authority. Australia has close to 6,000 community pharmacies, several hundred hospital pharmacies, and a smaller online-pharmacy sector (Pharmacy Guild of Australia).
Most community pharmacies are also accredited under the Quality Care Pharmacy Program (QCPP), a voluntary standard for premises, processes, and customer service. Because it is voluntary, the absence of the QCPP logo does not by itself mean a pharmacy is substandard, while its presence signals a pharmacy investing in quality systems. Our QCPP accreditation guide explains what it covers.
How do you find the right pharmacy for your need?
The label on the shopfront, whether "chemist", "pharmacy", or "discount chemist", tells you very little. What matters is the service you need. For dispensing, vaccinations, advice, or any pharmacist-led service, any community pharmacy will do. For complex medication management, five or more medicines, a recent hospital discharge, or dementia, it is worth looking for a pharmacy whose pharmacist provides Home Medicines Reviews. For a compounded medicine, made to order, you need one of the minority of pharmacies that compound. And for a state-specific service like pharmacist treatment of a urinary tract infection, your state decides which pharmacies can offer it. On Pharmacy Finder you can filter by service and by opening hours to shortlist the right shop without phoning around.
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Frequently asked questions
None, if you mean the shop: "chemist" and "pharmacy" are two names for the same place, both correct in everyday speech, with "pharmacy" the one regulators use. The real difference is the pharmacist, the registered professional inside, as opposed to the retail assistants, who cannot give advice on medicines.
