NSW Guild briefs health minister

THE NSW Branch of the Pharmacy Guild has been working hard to brief politicians on the range of issues arising from the upcoming rescheduling of codeine to prescription-only, which is set to become effective from Feb 2018.

Guild NSW Branch president Rick Samimi has led a delegation at two meetings with NSW health minister Brad Hazzard, as well as a discussion with shadow health minister Walt Secord about the codeine changes.

The Guild is proposing a new arrangement based on a regulatory mechanism that would maintain codeine-containing medicines as ‘Prescription Only’ but at the same time allow for provision of codeine for the temporary relief of acute pain under strict conditions.

Samimi told Pharmacy Daily the structured arrangement would include a real-time monitoring and recording system and continuing education programs for pharmacists.

“The Guild proposal will include a clinical assist recording platform, which also assists pharmacists to identify and refer at-risk patients and/or patients suffering from chronic pain conditions to general practitioners and pain clinics for further investigation,” Samimi said.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia is working with the Guild and is supportive of the initiative, the NSW Branch president added.

“The Guild proposal meets the acute needs of the vast majority of our patients, who take codeinebased medications responsibly and on an occasional basis, by providing access to these medicines safely and on a timely basis through their local pharmacy,” he said.

Pictured above after one of the meetings are, from left: NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard͖ NSW Guild Branch director Caroline Argent͖ NSW Guild Branch president Rick Samimi͖ and NSW Guild national councillor, Mario Barone.