The idea of a real-time national prescription monitoring system has been on the agenda for years,but the minister has now set a time frame and written to the states and territories urging them to connect “as a matter of priority”.
“The Commonwealth expects all other states and territories to integrate their systems by the end of this year,if not the middle of this year,” Mr Hunt’s spokesman toldThe Age on Thursday.
Much of the delay has come down to each jurisdiction having fragmented software systems to track how pharmaceuticals are monitored. NSW,which has the highest rates of opioid-related deaths,does not even have the ability to monitor prescriptions in “real time” within its own state,nor does Western Australia. Victoria has its own tracking system,known as Safescript,and with Queensland is working to integrate its software into the Commonwealth's data framework. The ACT has already done so.
The push to fast track the process comes amid growing concern that Australia needs to lift its game if it wants to avoid following in the footsteps of the US,where opioids have become such a problem President Donald Trump recently declared a public health emergency.
In Australia,opioid deaths have doubled in a decade and dispensing rates have increased 15-fold since the 1990s,with anAgeand Sydney Morning Herald investigation this week examining the impact of that shift and therole of drug companies with links to the US crisis.
Proponents hope that prescription monitoring will help curb the practice of “doctor shopping” - people visiting multiple GPs to obtain multiple scripts for powerful painkillers such Oxycontin,or addictive benzodiazepines such as Valium or Xanax. However,it is also hoped that tracking prescriptions will force GPs to consider ways to treat patients other than simply dispensing powerful drugs.