AMA calls for independent body to oversee National Medicines Policy

The AMA says the ongoing review of the policy should lead to further examination of medicines safety and access.  

The AMA has made a third submission to the revised National Medicines Policy consultation underway which is being run by the Commonwealth Department of Health.  

In its previous submissions the AMA recommended developing a set of key performance indicators to ensure Australia is meeting the objectives of the policy.  
 
In the latest draft policy there are clearer directions for implementation and evaluation, however the AMA is calling for the reintroduction of an independent national medicines advisory body to oversee the policy to ensure its vision and aims are achieved.  

The AMA believes the first action of the independent body should be to establish key performance indicators and implement the recommendations of the committee. 

The AMA would support the independent body playing a central role in issues which have the potential to undermine medicines safety and quality use of medicines (QUM), such as the continued efforts of non-medical health professionals to prescribe medicines.  

This body would consider all applications transparently in line with the policy including patient safety, QUM, collaboration and conflicts of interest. Increased access to medicines based on convenience may compromise QUM. 

The AMA would like to see the review of the policy to lead to further examination of medicines safety and access in Australia.  

For example, there must be a review of pharmacy ownership and location rules to increase medicines access and reduce the cost of medicines. The revised policy should be used as a vehicle to ensure future community pharmacy agreements meet the principles and pillars of the new policy, as the current agreement is far from meeting them.  

Other AMA concerns remain unaddressed in the latest revised policy; however, the review committee has stated some advice sits beyond its scope. As such, the AMA submission has encouraged the review committee to make stronger recommendations to the Minister for Health accompanying the final report.