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Health ministers allow fragmented care with non-medical prescribing approval

AMA President, Dr Steve Hambleton, said this week that the AMA is calling on Health Ministers to reverse their decision to sign off on dangerous new prescribing pathways that could harm patients by allowing non-medical health professionals to autonomously prescribe medications.

"The AMA argued long and hard against the autonomous model of prescribing throughout a year-long consultation process with Health Workforce Australia (HWA), which involved an advisory group comprising a range of health professionals," Dr Hambleton said.

"Autonomous prescribing encourages fragmented health care and poses greater risks to patient safety. We support prescribing by non-medical professionals that is carried out within strict collaborative care arrangements in partnership with doctors. Most prescribing by non-medical health practitioners currently occurs in public hospitals under strict protocols.

"The AMA supports the prescribing competency framework developed by the National Prescribing Service (NPS). This framework sets high standards for prescribing that are currently only met by medical practitioners," Dr Hambleton said.

Full media release.

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