Pharmacy Daily | Sydney to join e-script rollout: ADHA

PATIENTS across metropolitan Sydney will soon have the option to have their prescriptions issued in an electronic format, the Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) announced this morning.

The move will see electronic prescriptions introduced to communities across the city from Hornsby in the north, south to Campbelltown and to Penrith in the west, over the next month, as part of the staged national rollout.

ADHA CEO, Amanda Cattermole, said close to 400,000 e-scripts have been issued since the token model was launched in May (PD 08 May), with the agency working with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, to prepare practitioners to issue and dispense the new prescription format.

The rollout of e-scripts in Sydney follows their introduction across Victoria in Sep in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, when the state was designated as a Community of Interest under ADHA's trial program (PD 24 Sep).

Guild National Councillor and Sydney-based pharmacist, Catherine Bronger welcomed the move to enable patients to access e-scripts in the city.

"Community pharmacies across Sydney have been working to upgrade their dispensing software and review their in-pharmacy workflow to get ready for electronic prescriptions," she said.

"The Guild looks forward to further releases of electronic prescriptions functionality providing more convenience for patients, especially those who are on multiple medicines."

Initially, e-scripts will be issued via email or text message using the token system ahead of the launch of the Active Script List model, which is due to be introduced later this year.

While e-scripts will become available to patients in Sydney over the coming weeks, they will retain the option to have prescriptions issued in paper.