Pharmacists who complete a new extended master’s degree will have the right to call themselves ‘doctor’, Mark Butler has announced.

The federal Minister for Health and Aged Care was speaking this week at the Pharmacy Guild of Australia’s annual dinner at Parliament House in Canberra.

It follows the formal recognition of a Doctor of Pharmacy qualification, which — according to the guild — recognises the pharmacist’s extended scope of clinical practice, including prescribing and chronic disease management.

It has been described by the guild as the profession’s “highest possible qualification”, but it also means that pharmacists awarded the degree can introduce themselves to patients as ‘doctor’.