Pharmacists integral to improve health outcomes for Australians
The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) – Australia’s peak pharmacy body – has called on the Federal Government to implement six strategic measures in its 2021-22 Budget Submission that will enable pharmacists to significantly improve health outcomes for Australians.
Among the recommendations is the proposal to revise aged care funding instruments and invest $197.8 million over four years to support residential aged care facilities in directly engaging pharmacists to reduce preventable harm caused by medicines.
PSA National President Associate Professor Chris Freeman said the recent Royal Commission into Aged Care’s interim report was critical of medicine management in Australia’s aged care sector.
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Active Prescribing – Coming 1 Feb 2021
As of 1 February 2021, all eligible PBS and RPBS prescriptions will need to include the active ingredient, followed by brand if the prescriber believes it is clinically necessary.
The goal of Active Ingredient Prescribing is to help people understand what medicines they are taking. Under new medicine regulations, doctors must include the active ingredient names when preparing prescriptions for Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) and Repatriation PBS (RPBS) medicines. This will mean most medicines will be prescribed by their active ingredient, not the brand name.
The Department of Health has changed legislation to require the inclusion of active ingredients on all PBS and RPBS prescriptions, except for:
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Dietitians in aged care: a recipe to save millions
Adopted: December 2020 Last reviewed: December 2020 Last revised: December 2020 To be reviewed: December 2023 A 1/8 Phipps Close, Deakin ACT 2600 | T 02 6189 1200 E info@dietitiansaustralia.org.au | W dietitiansaustralia.org.au Dietitians Association of Australia | ABN 34 008 521 480 Dietitians Australia and the associated logo is a trademark of the Dietitians Association of Australia.
Malnutrition in Aged Care Position Dietitians Australia considers it vital for malnutrition screening to become embedded in the admission process for aged care services. Results of quarterly re -screens of nutritional status must become the mandatory nutrition criteria and replace mandatory reporting on unintentional weight loss. Mandatory malnutrition screening with nutrition management by Accredited Practising Dietitians using a foo d-first approach will improve the quality of life for aged care consumer s and could provide more than $8
Carers Australia
Carers Australia is urging the Federal Government to provide greater support to carers after new figuresreleased by the Productivity Commission show decreasing levels of satisfaction amongst primary carers.
The annual Report on Government Services (the Report) highlights that Australia’s 861,600 primary carers across Australia are vital in enabling older people to remain in their homes, and support people with disability to remain in the community. The Report states the main aims of community services are to provide support to sustain and nurture the functioning of individuals, families and groups.
Carers Australia CEO Liz Callaghan said, “What is required for carers is more flexible and properly funded opportunities to not only take a break from caring through formal respite, but to also be supported to live their own lives to the full, and participate in family, social and community life.”