THE Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has updated its "Palliative care services in Australia" website including its section on palliative care-related medications.
In 2004, the Australian Government introduced the Pharmaceutical Benefits for Palliative Care Schedule as a subsection of the PBS Schedule to improve access to essential and affordable medications for patients receiving palliative care.
Anti-inflammatory and anti-rheumatic medications were the most commonly prescribed medication type (subsidised) in 2016--17 (61.8%), followed by analgesics (26.7%) and laxatives (7.2%), the AIHW states.
Of the 914,000 palliative care-related prescriptions, about one in 17 (5.9%) patients receiving them during 2016--17, were aged 85 or older, with one--third (33.0%) aged 65 or older.
PBS/RPBS subsidised prescriptions accounted for 62.2% of all palliative care-related prescriptions.
See the updates at aihw.gov.au.
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