Mr Paul Naismith

Mr Paul Naismith is a pharmacist and the Chief Executive Officer of Fred IT Group.

Mr Naismith is an information technology visionary who has dedicated his career to using technology to improve the ability of pharmacists to care for their patients. Until recently, Mr Naismith was also the owner of two community pharmacies in Victoria.

Mr Naismith co-founded Fred in 1991 to develop dispensing software that was faster and easier to use, before turning to pharmacy friendly point-of-sale (Quicksell) and a pharmacy specific Internet service (nuNet). With Mr Naismith at the helm, Fred has since grown into Australia’s largest provider of information technology services dedicated to pharmacy with a team of 240 staff.

Based on Mr Naismith’s vision of using technology to improve the business of running pharmacies, the company has continued to invest in and lead industry-wide advances. These have included the development of key information resources - such as the PharmX Internet ordering gateway and the national Australian Pharmacy Product Catalogue (APPCAT) - and working with government on the roll out of real time claiming via PBS Online.

Mr Naismith has been a strong advocate of digital health systems that enable Australian health professionals to provide their patients with better care. From 2005 onwards, he has been a key figure in building support for changes that allow health professionals to share information and improve patient outcomes. This has included leading national and industry-wide collaboration with health professionals, industry groups, technology providers and government.

Mr Naismith’s leadership has culminated in several important achievements. These include the 2009 launch of eRx Script Exchange (Australia’s first national electronic prescriptions exchange for pharmacy and health) and MedView (an online cloud-based platform for managing medicines information). Mr Naismith has recently seen two of his career-long ambitions realised: the 2019 introduction of real-time prescription monitoring to save lives and reduce the accidental misuse of prescription medications; and the 2020 introduction of an Australian system of electronic prescriptions to remove paper-based processes and improve convenience for all.

Mr Naismith is Chair of the Board of Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL), pharmacy’s major indemnity provider. He is also Chair of APPCo, publisher of the Australian Journal of Pharmacy. He is a member of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and is a fellow of the Australian College of Pharmacy.

In his spare time, Mr Naismith snow skis, runs marathons and follows the ever-changing information technology landscape.

Mr Naismith has a Bachelor of Pharmacy from Monash University.