The PSA says it welcomes the NSW Labor Party’s announcement on Sunday of its policy and plan to implement real-time prescription monitoring (RTPM) in NSW if elected in 2019.
The announcement came after a NSW Coroner’s report released last month recommended that urgent consideration be given to raising the priority for the introduction of an RTPM system in NSW. NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has since commissioned research on the need and potential benefits and risks of RTPM in NSW.
RTPM will allow pharmacists and prescribers to access accurate data to make informed clinical decisions to best support patients impacted by prescription medicine misuse, the PSA says.
“Deaths from prescription opioids continue to rise, and the PSA has been advocating with the NSW government to introduce a real-time prescription monitoring system to prevent these deaths, along with a number of coroners’ reports indicating that such a system is needed,” PSA NSW President Professor Peter Carroll, who participated at the ALP’s announcement, said: ”
“Unfortunately, the current NSW government has not introduced such a system. In fact, the NSW Chief Pharmacist has stated that a real-time prescription monitoring System is ‘years away’.
“This is a completely unacceptable situation as without a real-time prescription monitoring system for drugs of misuse, such as opioids, deaths will continue to occur, which could have been prevented.”
