New med monitor to curb death toll

A GEELONG-based health network will lead an effort to halt the rise of prescription drug deaths.

Western Victoria Primary Health Network (PHN) will lead a consortium of all Victorian PHNs and NPS MedicineWise in developing the Real Time Prescription Monitoring system for doctors and pharmacists across the state.

The training and education system will arm medical practitioners with up-to-date medication supply histories of their patients, in a bid to restrict access to potentially deadly quantities of prescription drugs.

Western Victoria PHN chief executive Leanne Beagley said prescription medications were claiming more lives than illicit drugs and the road toll.

“The increasing harms and deaths from the misuse of prescription medicines is a growing major public health concern in Victoria,” Ms Beagley said. “In 2016, there were 372 Victorian drug overdose deaths involving pharmaceutical medicines, higher than the number of overdose deaths involving illicit drugs (257), and higher than the road toll (291).”

The new mandatory software system will be rolled out in Victoria next year, to more than 1900 medical clinics, 1300 pharmacies and 200 hospitals.

The system will monitor all controlled drugs, including oxycodone, morphine, Ritalin and dexamphetamine, and some high-risk prescription medications such as Stillnox, Valium and Seroquel.