ACT Health has launched a new, real-time prescription monitoring system to enable medical professionals assess their patients’ drug history before prescribing or dispensing medications.
Welcomed by the Minister for Health, Rachel Stephen-Smith, Canberra Script is expected to help address the harm caused by some prescription medications, particularly opioids.
“Canberra Script will support medical professionals to make safe and effective prescription decisions,” Ms Stephen-Smith said.
“The system will also enable healthcare professionals to better identify and support patients who may be at risk of harm or dependency,” she said.
“Canberrans should be reassured that the system will not disadvantage patients who have a clinical need for a medicine.”
Ms Stephen-Smith said that over the past decade, drug-induced deaths across Australia had been more likely to be due to prescription drugs than illicit drugs, while the number of drug-induced deaths nationwide involving opioids had more than tripled.
“Prescription medicines can provide relief from pain after an accident or surgery or alleviate the symptoms of diseases or other conditions,” she said.
“But medicines also have side effects, and some can cause dependence or other harms.
“It’s important for those prescribing and dispensing medications to know what other medications the patient is on or has recently taken, as some medicines can be harmful when taken in high doses or in combination with other medicines.”
Ms Stephen-Smith said Canberra Script would integrate with the new, national Real Time Prescription Monitoring system being implemented across Australia.
She said that in the Territory, Canberra Script would replace the Drugs and Poisons Information System Online Remote Access (known as DORA), which had operated since 2019.
Further information about Canberra Script for consumers and health practitioners can be accessed at this PS News link.
