NSW deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame has recommended the state's Health Minister urgently consider "raising the priority for the introduction of Real Time Prescription Monitoring" (RTPM), after an inquest into the death of a patient from prescription drugs.
Alissa Campbell, 26, saw more than a dozen different doctors in the six months before she died due to codeine and doxepin toxicity, with her two long-term GPs commended for their care of a complex patient.
However, the doctors had no idea their patient was also having scripts filled by after-hours doctors, including one who administered morphine and pethidine injections during home visits.
The coroner noted that it was extremely difficult to get an accurate picture of the scripts being provided to Campbell before her death, highlighting several cases where the patient had private and public scripts filled on the same day at different pharmacies.
Evidence presented by NSW Chief Pharmacist Judith Mackson included her view that the roll-out of RTPM in the state was "years away" with NSW waiting on a national system rather than proceeding on a standalone basis.
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