Media contributions
1Media contributions
Title Registered nurses’ prescribing powers expanded Degree of recognition National Media name/outlet NewsGP Media type Web Country/Territory Australia Date 11/12/24 Description Nurses who have undergone extra training will soon be able to work to a broader scope of practice under a new prescriber arrangement....
Chair of the RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care Professor Mark Morgan told newsGP that ensuring patient safety must remain paramount.
‘Schedule 8 medicines are those with significant risk of abuse, dependency and harm, and prescribing of these should remain the role of the clinician ultimately responsible for patient care and management,’ he said.
‘Medicine is complex and … requires very rigorous and comprehensive scaffolding of medical science followed by structured clinical training and supervision.
‘If there are barriers to timely prescribing, then identifying ways to reduce these should be the focus of effort.’
Professor Morgan added that the proposal is a ‘watering down of existing governance arrangements where the TGA advises scheduling of medications on the basis of risk and complexity’.
‘What is the role of the TGA going forward when state and territory drugs and poison legislation can undermine the TGA’s recommendations?’ he said.
‘Will the PBS be amended to provide patients funding to access medicines prescribed by RNs?’
The college has long raised concerns around prescribing powers for RNs – highlighting in a recent submission that while the important role nurses have in supporting patient care is recognised, multidisciplinary teams remain the best models of care.
‘Patient safety is paramount and best protected where multidisciplinary teams which include a GP, are working together to provide coordinated, collaborative and continuous patient care,’ the submission states.
Professor Morgan also notes while the model mentions provision of improved access to medicines in rural and remote areas with shortages of primary care providers, there is a lack of detail about how or if RN prescribing will be restricted to areas of unmet need...
Professor Morgan says the secure future of Australia’s healthcare system relies on several models.
‘The Scope of Practice review, various state-based pharmacy prescribing programs and recently proposed changes to state drugs and poisons legislation all point to a sudden realisation in governments that Australia is facing a medical workforce cliff edge,’ he said.
‘Medicine itself has gotten a whole lot more complicated as more evidence is generated. This is reflected in clinical practice guidelines where “best practice” is more complex than ever before.
‘Complexity takes more time and requires a bigger workforce.’
He said while solutions include training more doctors and providing incentives to distribute doctors in location and speciality according to need, role substitution as a solution, if done poorly, is ‘fraught with risk’.
‘We know policies that damage general practice by undermining working conditions of GPs will result in a worsening of workforce challenges,’ he said.
‘Substitution can lead to fragmentation, patient-harms, increased health system costs and out-of-pocket costs.
‘There is an opportunity for many GPs to … provide guidance, governance and support for the primary care team to deliver care. It is vital that models of care where RNs, general practice-based pharmacists and others directly deliver a greater proportion of care need to be tested.
‘None of us want to see excellent Australian primary care system drift towards the cut-price care factories we hear about under the UK’s NHS.’Producer/Author Morgan Liotta URL https://www1.racgp.org.au/newsgp/professional/registered-nurses-prescribing-powers-expanded?utm_source=racgpnewsgpnewsletter&utm_campaign=newsgpedm&utm_medium=email Persons Mark Morgan