AN admission last week by NSW's Chief Pharmacist that the state had no timetable for the introduction of a real time prescription monitoring (RTPM) system has shocked pharmacy officials.
Dr Judith Mackson was testifying at a coronial inquiry looking at six fatal opioid-related overdoses during 2016, and told Deputy State Coroner Harriet Grahame that NSW was waiting for the implementation of a national system.
She said there was significant work involved in such a project including the development of a national data exchange and a makeover of software to connect doctors and pharmacists.
"A timetable for implementation has not been developed, and the costs to NSW to implement real time prescription monitoring have not been determined," she said in a statement tendered to the court.
Peter Carroll, president of the NSW branch of the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and his Guild counterpart David Heffernan said they shared the frustration expressed by coroner Grahame during the hearing.
The pair called on NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard to immediately implement a strategy for the introduction of a real time monitoring system for prescription opioids in NSW.
"Evidence clearly shows that the number of deaths caused by the misuse and abuse of prescription opioids is increasing," they said, noting that governments in Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia and the ACT had either implemented or developed strategies to introduce a real time monitoring system.
"In the light of the increasing death rate and actions taken by other states, the NSW PSA and PGA presidents find it inconceivable that the NSW Chief Pharmacist could admit that NSW has no timetable for the introduction of a real time monitoring system for prescription opioids," Heffernan and Carroll said.
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