Equity Care Onsite Pharmacists, out from behind the counter, delivering wellness for priority populations
Wellness Partners Foundation delivers the Wellness 10 through a set of enabling frameworks and flagship initiatives that translate strategy into practical, scalable and place-based action. These frameworks and initiatives are not additional service streams; rather, they are the mechanisms through which embedded Equity Care Onsite Pharmacists (ECOPs) activate the Wellness 10 across diverse care and community settings.
Together, they provide the structure, governance and delivery pathways that enable pharmacists to work beyond traditional models, strengthen continuity of care, reduce fragmentation, and support equitable access for priority populations. Each initiative is designed to integrate with existing services, respond to local context, and support partners to achieve shared objectives without duplication or displacement.
Through its embedded pharmacist workforce, mobile outreach capability and place-based partnerships, the Foundation also establishes continuity of care capacity that can be leveraged during periods of system disruption or stress.
Belonging Beyond Barriers™ is an enabling framework that supports the intentional, safe and structured connection of priority populations through shared purpose. It recognises that social isolation, fragmentation and exclusion are key drivers of poor health outcomes, and that belonging, contribution and meaningful connection are powerful protective factors for wellness.
Rather than operating as a standalone program, Belonging Beyond Barriers provides a delivery lens through which the Wellness 10 can be implemented in ways that move beyond siloed service models. It enables partners to co-design opportunities where different priority populations, support services and care settings come together in mutually beneficial ways.
Under this framework, collaboration is always opt-in, partner-led and appropriately governed. Activities are structured to ensure dignity, consent, safeguarding and role clarity, with ECOPs acting as trusted facilitators rather than owners of the interaction.
Examples include supported employment pathways, intergenerational engagement,
and shared contribution models within community hubs, pharmacies and care settings.
Belonging Beyond Barriers strengthens the Foundation’s equity mission by embedding connection and shared purpose into service delivery, while respecting the autonomy, safety and lived experience of all participants. It underpins multiple Wellness 10 streams, particularly Social Prescribing (W7), Workforce Development (W10), Health Literacy (W4) and $0 non-medicated wellness items access (W2).
WISE Choice™ is a flagship sustainability and equity initiative that ensures usable, non-medicated wellness items are put to purpose wisely. It reduces environmental waste while enabling dignified, free access to essential wellness items for priority populations through trusted pharmacist-led engagement.
Across Australia, large volumes of usable wellness items are discarded by pharmacies, aged care facilities, hospitals and clinics, while many individuals experiencing homelessness, financial hardship or health inequity face significant barriers to accessing those same items. WISE Choice addresses this by creating a governed pathway for redistribution that aligns sustainability with health equity.
Participating healthcare sites collect eligible wellness items through pharmacist-governed WISE Choice bins. Items are transferred to partner pharmacies co-located within community support hubs, where ECOPs serve individuals to make informed choices and access essential items at no cost. Engagement occurs in a setting that prioritises dignity, respect and trust, often serving as an entry point for broader healthcare discussions and support.
WISE Choice supports people experiencing homelessness and others facing financial or access barriers, with access coordinated through community partners to ensure safety and appropriateness. The initiative directly enables W2 ($0 Wellness Items) and also supports W2 (Health Literacy), W7 (Social Prescribing) and W10 (Workforce Development, when combined with Belonging Beyond Barriers) by creating meaningful engagement opportunities within community settings.
Wise CALL™ is a low-barrier, pharmacist-led knowledge broking and tele-advice service designed to provide timely, trusted access to pharmacist expertise for priority populations and the people who support them. It extends the reach of ECOPs beyond physical sites, enabling continuity of care across settings, transitions and periods of instability.
Many priority populations have trouble accessing healthcare advice, particularly outside standard service hours, during transitions between care settings, and periods of personal crisis or hardship. Wise CALL addresses this gap by offering convenient, confidential and responsive access to pharmacist support, delivered through trauma-informed and healing-aware knowledge broker pharmacists.
Wise CALL supports medication advice, health literacy, harm reduction guidance and care navigation. It is designed to complement existing services (in addition to Telstra’s free public payphone network), providing an accessible point of connection that can prevent escalation, reduce fragmentation and strengthen continuity of care.
The service supports multiple priority populations, including people experiencing homelessness, addiction, rural and remote isolation and crisis accommodation. Wise CALL directly enables W4 (Medication Advice and Health Literacy), W7 (Social Prescribing) and W8 (Connected Practitioner Care), and acts as a critical continuity mechanism within the Foundation’s embedded ECOP care delivery model.
Wise SKILLS™ is the Foundation’s capability and workforce development initiative, designed to build confidence, knowledge and skills across priority populations, support networks and care workforces. It enables pharmacists, lived-experience participants, students, volunteers and workers to operate confidently and appropriately within complex care environments.
Many care and community settings lack consistent access to relevant education and training, particularly where staff turnover is high or where workers support individuals with complex health and social needs. Wise SKILLS responds to this gap by delivering structured, place-appropriate, pharmacist-led education directly within the settings where care and support is provided.
Education is tailored to local context and audience, supporting health literacy, medication safety, harm reduction, trauma-informed practice and coordinated care.
Uniquely, Wise SKILLS identifies and supports at-risk individuals with lived-experience to develop practical skills that enable them to contribute to peer-support roles within their communities, and to explore pathways toward further training or employment where appropriate.
Wise SKILLS™ underpins W10 (Community-Connected Workforce Development) and correlates with W4 (Medication Advice and Health Literacy) and W7 (Social Prescribing). The initiative also strengthens the delivery of multiple other Wellness 10 streams by building capability across systems, not just within individual roles.
Wise MOBILE™ is the Foundation’s pharmacist-led medicines outreach initiative, designed to overcome geographic, access and system barriers that prevent many priority populations from engaging in ongoing healthcare. It enables delivery of the Wellness 10 in settings where fixed-location services alone cannot effectively reach or support priority populations.
For many individuals, continuity of care is disrupted by homelessness, mobility limitations, crisis, social exclusion, or transitions between care settings. While permanent Wellness Partner pharmacies and embedded Equity Care Onsite Pharmacists (ECOPs) provide trusted and stable access points, some communities remain outside the practical reach of bricks-and-mortar services. Wise MOBILE addresses this gap by taking pharmacist-led care directly to people in the places they already feel safe, seen and supported.
Aligned with the Wellness 10 framework, Wise MOBILE is location-agnostic and supports place-appropriate medication reviews, continuity of treatment supply, health literacy, immunisation equity, harm reduction, addiction support, social prescribing, and coordinated practitioner care. Outreach activities are designed not only to meet immediate needs, but to actively rebuild trust and reconnect individuals with ongoing local healthcare pathways.
Wise MOBILE operates in addition to, and in direct support of, the Foundation’s permanent and embedded service models. It strengthens the overall service ecosystem by extending reach into environments where stigma, judgement or logistical barriers would otherwise prevent engagement.
Through Wise MOBILE, the Foundation delivers equitable, trauma-informed and person-centred pharmacist care beyond traditional settings, ensuring access to medicines and wellness support is responsive, dignified and available regardless of location, circumstance or financial capacity.
Wise MENTOR™ is the Foundation’s initiative that can support the Aged Care Onsite Pharmaicst measure uptake in your PHN.
- Local guidance and support from an experienced ACOP
- Integrated support from experienced clinicians
- Network and Community of practice for pharmacistsand care providers
- Practical development in real care environments
- Clear Performance and outcome reporting
- Retain, support and upskill the ACOP workforce
ACOP WORKFORCE ENABLEMENT
- Faster Uptake
- Stronger Confidence
- Consistent Delivery
- Measurable Impact
