A notice issued by the government in response to the coronavirus crisis allowing for the easier renewal of authorities permitting the prescription of notifiable restricted substances by medical practitioners has been scrutinised by a parliamentary committee.
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Appearing before the Joint Standing Committee on Subordinate Legislation on Friday and reading a statement on behalf of Health Minister Sarah Courtney, Department of Health secretary Kathrine Morgan-Wicks said the Poisons Act was varied during the crisis to free up GPs and pharmacists should they be needed to respond to the pandemic.
Prior to the notice being issued in mid-April, medical practitioners were required to make a written application to gain an authority to prescribe a patient a restricted substance.
Ms Morgan-Wicks said these usually related to narcotic substances including strong opioid pain medications and psycho-stimulants.
She said the applications were assessed by pharmacists, with consideration given to the risks and benefits of authorising a specific substance to a patient, and if successful an authority allowing the prescription lasting less than six months was issued.
"Approximately 13,500 authorities were issued [under the act] during 2019. Around 9000 related to lower risk authorities with about half of these due to expire in the period May to October 2020," Ms Morgan-Wicks said.
"This equates to potentially more than 4000 authorities that would otherwise need to be applied for and issued in a six month period.
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"Authorities may be varied or revoked by a delegate [under the act] at any time without an application."
Under the notice the requirement for written applications to renew lower risk authorities was removed for two reasons, Ms Morgan-Wicks said.
"The first reason was to enable resources that would otherwise be focused on renewing these lower risk authorities to instead focus on responding to COVID-19," she said.
"The second reason was to mitigate the risk of reduced GP or departmental availability due to widespread COVID-19 transmission.
"While this approach does require input from the pharmaceutical services branch, it has removed a burden on GPs who are no longer required to complete an application under the period of notice.
"Fortunately, the number of people testing positive in Tasmania for COVID-19 has decreased and the need for pharmacists acting as delegates of the secretary to divert from their usual role to assist with government's response to COVID-19 has not been as significant as originally anticipated."
Ms Morgan-Wicks said should the situation with COVID-19 change the ability to rely on the notice as a means of enabling ongoing authority for medical practitioners to make a specified substance automatically available would be invaluable.
Murchison independent MLC Ruth Forrest questioned how the notice impacted the ongoing management of patients.
Department of Health chief pharmacist Sam Halliday said the onus remained on the prescriber to carry out due diligence when managing their patients.
He said consultation on the notice occurred with members of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Australian Medical Association Tasmania branch, and clinical advisers both within and external to the Department.
"They indicated this was an extremely proactive move in lower risk scenarios to enable continuity of care," he said.