Pharmacy Daily | NPS funding decision ‘misinformed’

MINISTER for Health and Aged Care, Mark Butler's decision to go ahead with the Coalition's pre-election Budget plan to defund NPS MedicineWise, has disappointed many in the pharmacy and wider health sector.

The move, which has prompted the organisation's board to announce it will be wound up on 31 Dec (PD 14 Sep), has been described as a "tragedy for consumers, pharmacists and medical practitioners", by former NPS MedicineWise Director and pharmacist, Debbie Rigby.

"They had an opportunity to reverse the decision and chose not to," Rigby said of the Labor Government.

"Quality use of medicine (QUM) and medicine safety is a national health priority and yet the Government chose not to fund NPS MedicineWise."

Commenting on the decision to strip funding from NPS MedicineWise on Twitter, consultant pharmacist, Jenny Gowan, said it was "hard to accept the loss of this excellent resource for all health professionals as well as consumers".

"This is effective evidence-based education that has been shown to make a difference," she said.

"A misinformed decision that I was sure Mark Butler would rectify, a gross loss for quality use of medicines."

Former NPS MedicineWise CEO, Adjunct Associate Professor Steve Morris, said it was "a very sad day".

"It will be missed by many, none more so then consumers," he said.

Meanwhile, in a message to its members the Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) praised NPS MedicineWise for its stewardship of national QUM activities.

"NPS MedicineWise has contributed significantly to QUM, health literacy and education for Australian clinicians and the Australian public," the SHPA said.

"As a proud member of NPS MedicineWise, SHPA collaborated with NPS MedicineWise on many important QUM projects since the National Prescribing Service was established in 1998, rebranding to its current name in 2010."

NPS MedicineWise resources are used daily by SHPA members in their practice and continuing professional development, and SHPA will advocate for these important projects and programs to continue.

"For a time, the SHPA secretariat even shared offices with the NPS MedicineWise staff based in Melbourne.

"SHPA will continue to support independent QUM programs which place Australians' health as the utmost priority."