Guild urges national ERRCD
August 6, 2015
The Pharmacy Guild has joined
with other peak bodies to urge
doctors and pharmacists across
Australia to “unite in demanding a
national system for the Electronic
Recording and Reporting of
Controlled Drugs” (ERRCD).
Guild executive director David
Quilty said that governments have
“dawdled and blame shifted” for
too long, despite calls by coroners
in virtually every jurisdiction for a
coordinated solution (PD 30 Jul).
In the last 15 years the supply of
Schedule 8 medicines has increased
markedly, with oxycodone and
fentanyl supply increasing 22-fold
and 46-fold respectively, he said.
“Oxycodone is now the seventh
leading medicine prescribed in
general practice, with nearly 2.5
million PBS prescriptions in 2013
for oxycodone alone,” Quilty added.
Drug overdose fatalities regularly
exceed those due to motor
accidents in Australia, and “legal
prescription medicines - rather than
illicit substances” comprise the overwhelming majority, he said.
“Australia, like other western
nations, is in the grip of a
prescription drug epidemic and it
is totally unacceptable that doctors
and pharmacists work every day at
the coalface of this problem with
one hand tied behind their backs”.
As well as the Guild, other
organisations including the PSA,
RACP, RACGP and the Australian
Medical Association have joined
the campaign, saying “it is time for
governments around the country to
do the right thing”.
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