Pharmacy united on meds safety

LEADING pharmacy, consumer and Federal agencies want to see better use of existing funding and leverage digital health resources to improve quality use of medicines, discussions at the Medicines Safety Forum in Canberra revealed.

Convened by the Consumers Health Forum (CHF), Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA), Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA), NPS MedicineWise along with academic partners Monash University and the University of Sydney, the forum welcomed the recent Council of Australian Governments Health Ministers’ decision to make medicines safety the 10th National Health Priority Area (PD 05 Nov).

Speaking after the forum, PSA National President, Dr Chris Freeman, noted medication-related harm costs the Australian health system an estimated $1.4 billion a year.

“Medicine safety is a priority for us all and we each have a role to play,” Freeman said.

“It was inspiring to see the sector work together today to proactively identify those measures we can cooperatively pursue to make a real difference and protect patients.

“Improving medicine safety is not just about spending more money but also about being more strategic with the money that is spent.

“Today there was deep discussion of the actions we can take to reduce harm from medicines.

“We will now take the feedback and ideas we received from participants and develop a suite of recommendations and work with relevant stakeholders to implement as a matter of urgency.”

Freeman thanked the more than 100 delegates who took part in the forum, saying medicine related-harm was one of Australia’s biggest healthcare challenges.

“The depth and number of participants at today’s forum shows how important this issue is and how committed the health care sector is to improving medicine safety,” he said.

CHF CEO, Leanne Wells, said there was a need for greater patient engagement to boost their medicines knowledge.

“Discussions often returned to how vital it is to have patients actively engaged in their health care decisions and informed about the medicines they are prescribed,” she said.

“Modern medication offers great benefits but the rate of hospital admissions caused by avoidable medication errors shows the importance of ensuring consumers are informed about their medicines, which is an integral part of broader quality use of medicines.”

NPS MedicineWise CEO, Steve Morris, said there was a need to look back to the future “to cherish the ethos of quality use of medicines”.

“While Australia’s National Strategy for the Quality Use of Medicines requires an update, the principles of 20 years ago, including the primacy of consumers, is just as relevant today,” he said.

A report on the outcomes of the forum, including recommendations is now set to be developed by the participant organisations.