HEALTH Minister Greg Hunt opened the PSA17 conference in Sydney last Fri just after unveiling a $16 million plan to deliver the national roll-out of real-time prescription monitoring for medicines, to "directly address the needless loss of life from misuse of these drugs" (PD breaking news).
The national Real Time Prescription Monitoring scheme will provide an instant alert to pharmacists and doctors if patients receive multiple supplies of prescription-only medicines.
Hunt said the system would save lives and protect the community, adding "this is something of absolute national importance".
"Real time reporting will assist doctors and pharmacists to identify patients who are at risk of harm due to dependency, misuse or abuse of controlled medicines, and patients who are diverting these medicines," he said.
The Pharmacy Guild welcomed the announcement, saying it believed real time recording was a vital clinical tool which will enable both doctors and pharmacists to identify and support patients with prescription drug addiction issues.
"For too long doctors and pharmacists have been expected to work at the front line tackling the prescription drug dependence issue without the full knowledge that real time recording can provide.
"The technology exists - it's great that there is now real political momentum to see it implemented," Tambassis said.
The Federal Government first funded the development of the Electronic Reporting and Recording of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD)system to help state and territory governments manage controlled medicines in 2013, committing $5 million under the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement.
The Guild has frequently made the development and implementation of ERRCD a theme through its many government submissions including that to the recent TGA consultation around the up-scheduling of pain relief medicines containing codeine.
Qld also last week committed to developing a business case for the system (PD 27 Jul).
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