Australian Medical Association

The Department of Health and Ageing have released information on the national approach to the use of antiviral medication for influenza during PROTECT 2010.

The Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) strongly disagree with the decision to reschedule Chloramphenicol eye drops from the Schedule 4 listing to a Schedule 3 medication.

Schedule 4 medications are prescribed by registered medical practitioners or endorsed optometrists.  Schedule 3 medications are available to the public from a pharmacist without a prescription.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said that first-line eye care is the domain of general practitioners and optometrists, who are readily accessible to patients.

“General practitioners have been specifically trained in clinical diagnosis and appropriate drug use,” Dr Pesce said.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that the AMA is alarmed that elements of the latest Community Pharmacy Agreement indicate a Government policy shift that puts patient safety at risk by undermining the value of a medical diagnosis.

Dr Pesce said that the Government’s decision to allow pharmacists to dispense prescription medications without a prescription is a threat to patient safety by ignoring the skills and expertise of family doctors and the importance of the doctor-patient relationship.

“Current arrangements allow pharmacists to dispense emergency supplies of medications where a patient has inadvertently run out of necessary medication, so there is no reason to introduce these changes on the basis of patient safety,” Dr Pesce said.

“There has been no consultation with the AMA and the medical profession over this decision, which sends a dangerous signal to patients about access to prescription medicines.”

Draft proposals by the Productivity Commission designed to reduce the red tape burden on medical practices will benefit patients, the AMA said today.

A Productivity Commission draft review into regulatory burdens on business recommends that the Government drop the requirement for doctors to seek approval from Medicare Australia to prescribe certain drugs under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

AMA Vice President, Dr Steve Hambleton said: “red tape restricts patient access to medical care and some GPs spend up to nine hours a week completing paperwork. ”

“Every hour a GP spends doing paperwork, around four patients are denied access to a doctor.”

The AMA Position Statement on Electronic Prescription Transfer Systems – 2009 supports the development of an electronic prescription transfer system as a fundamental building block for a broader eHealth system in Australia. It sets out the high level principles that should underpin an electronic prescription transfer system.

The development of an e system in Australia is supported by:

1. the National eHealth Strategy
2. the KPMG Consultancy in Electronic Prescribing and Dispensing Final Report (commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing);
3. the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission (NHHRC) Interim Report, including the supplementary paper on person-controlled electronic health records; and
4. commercial vendors actively promoting their prescribing systems.

The AMA position on other aspects of eHealth are set out in the following position statements:

AMA Position Statement – Unique Healthcare Identifiers – 2008
AMA Position Statement – Connectivity – 2007
AMA Position Statement – Safety and Quality of E-Health Systems – 2006

AMA Position Statement: Medicines - 2008