Pharmacy Daily | Guild Update 11 Feb 20

REAL time monitoring a priority: National uniform real time monitoring of opioid prescription medicines has been a long time coming to Australia, but the Guild certainly welcomes the renewed push by Health Minister Hunt to bring it on this year (PD yesterday). Recent mainstream media reports on the impact of opioid abuse have been very confronting, and reinforce the urgency of this work. The Guild has long supported and called for the introduction of national real time recording of controlled drugs, a move which will benefit vulnerable patients and provide significant clinical decision-making support for doctors and pharmacists. A national, uniform real-time monitoring system will enable pharmacists to identify and support patients at risk of dependence and will also help to counter doctor shopping. We wholeheartedly welcome Minister Hunt’s declaration that real time recording across Australia is a matter of priority. Some States and Territories have already developed systems, but we need all jurisdictions on board and systems that talk to each other to ensure a nationally effective approach.

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