Pharmacists to notify weekly when they dispense prescription painkillers

Queensland will slash the reporting time for pharmacists to notify when the dispense prescription painkillers – from monthly to weekly.

Announcing the move, Health Minister Cameron Dick said the misuse of prescription painkillers was a serious problem that needed to be tackled.

“This is a growing problem not just in Queensland but across Australia and internationally, and we need to respond,” Mr Dick said.

“This move to weekly reporting will provide doctors with a greater level of awareness of how often and where and when a person has filled a prescription for painkillers.

“It will mean they can be more vigilant and alert to situations where painkillers are clearly being misused.”

Pharmacists are currently required to notify on a monthly basis when they dispense prescriptions for what are known as Schedule 8 or S8 drugs.

The details are entered onto a database which doctors can access via a telephone enquiry.

“We are talking about painkilling drugs such as fentanyl, oxycodone and morphine,” Mr Dick said.

“Fortunately, we have these drugs to help people manage and cope with severe and extreme pain, both chronic and acute.

“Unfortunately, there is a growing prevalence of these painkillers being misused.

“In some cases, it’s the person who they’ve been prescribed for obtaining and taking too many. In others, the painkillers are being illegally sold and traded.

“Access by doctors to a patient’s prescription history and other treatment information enables doctors to make better-informed prescribing decisions, and reduce a person’s misuse of these drugs,” Mr Dick said.

“Queensland is one of the few states that currently has a S8 prescription drug monitoring program that records patients’ dispensing histories.

“Queensland Health recently launched an upgraded seven-day-a-week telephone enquiry service to give doctors improved access to this information as well as clinical specialist treatment advice to assist in their prescribing decisions.

“The move to weekly in place of monthly reporting for when pharmacists dispense S8 drugs will provide doctors with even better information.

“Queensland Health will consult with both pharmacists and doctors on the move to weekly reporting of dispensed S8 prescriptions,” Mr Dick said.

Queensland Health will also develop a business case, starting later this year, to assess the best options for implementing real-time reporting.

The business case will examine how real-time reporting in Queensland might link with the Federal Government’s myHealth system, which stores information on an individual’s medical treatment record, and a Federal Department of Health project to equip the States with a real-time reporting capability, the Electronic Reporting and Recording of Controlled Drugs system.

The planned ERRCD system would alert doctors and pharmacists to people who are abusing prescription drugs by doctor or pharmacy shopping.

It is anticipated that doctors would be able to access an online database showing a real-time prescription and treatment history for a patient who they were considering issuing with a prescription for painkillers. The database would be updated in real time when a pharmacist dispensed a prescription.

Media contact: Joe Begley 0427 165 382