ACT Health is to be given stronger powers to check the medical records of patients to see if they are misusing or abusing prescription medicines.
Introducing the enabling Bill into the Legislative Assembly, Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Meegan Fitzharris said the misuse and abuse of prescription medicines in Australia was of growing national concern and had significant health, social and economic consequences for patients, families and the wider community.
“Introducing real-time prescription monitoring is a key part of the Government’s strategy to minimise harm from controlled medicines like oxycodone,” Ms Fitzharris said.
“The reforms introduced by this Bill are aimed at supporting safe and appropriate prescribing and dispensing of medicines in the ACT and keeping people safe.”
She said the legislation would enable ACT Health to implement an extension to its existing Drugs and Poisons Information System (DAPIS) that the Health Protection Service had been using since 2014.
“The proposed extension, named the Drugs and Poisons Information System Online Remote Access (DORA), will enable health professionals to check what monitored medicines have previously been prescribed or supplied to a patient,” the Minister said.
“DORA can help health professionals make more informed clinical decisions and help stop doctor shopping across the ACT. DORA can also help doctors to identify risks early and refer patients who are experiencing signs of addiction to the most appropriate treatment.”
She said the Bill included privacy protections and disciplinary pathways to protect against unlawful or inappropriate access to the database, or unlawful use of information from the database.
“Following the passing of the legislation I also propose to make a regulatory change to require pharmacists to report data daily, instead of the current seven-day period,” Ms Fitzharris said.
