National RTPM expected this year

FEDERAL Health Minister, Greg Hunt, is urging State and Territory governments to act now to deliver a nationally integrated real-time prescription monitoring (RTPM) system to bolster medicines safety.

In comments reported by the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, Hunt said moves were underway to fast-track the implementation of a national RTPM.

“The Commonwealth expects all States and Territories to integrate their systems by the end of the this year, if not the middle of this year, Hunt said.

Hunt’s desire to see a national RTPM in place by the end of the year has been welcomed by the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, with Guild National President, George Tambassis saying “we have to get this done”.

“We wholeheartedly welcome Minister Hunt’s declaration that real time recording across Australia is a matter of priority,” he said.

“Some States and Territories have already developed systems, but we need all jurisdictions on board and systems that talk to each other to ensure a nationally effective approach.”

Victorian Health Minister, Jenny Mikakos, said SafeScript had delivered a reduction in the proportion of patients taking higher risk doses of opioids by 25% between Apr and Oct last year (PD 06 Feb).

Currently RTPM systems are in place, but not mandated in Victoria, the ACT and Tasmania, with Queensland’s Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, Steven Miles, announcing a RTPM system will be introduced in the State in the second half of this year (PD 19 Sep 2019).

The South Australian Government allocated funding for an RTPM system to be developed in its 2018/19 Budget, but to date no timeframe for its implementation has been set.

A spokesperson for NSW Health Minister, Brad Hazard, confirmed work was underway in the state to develop a RTPM system (PD 19 Jul 2019), but no concrete date has been set for its introduction.