Pharmacotherapy sites up
June 16, 2014
THE number of opioid
pharmacotherapy dosing sites
increased in 2013 by 129 in 2012-
13, with the majority of sites
remaining pharmacies, a report
from the Australian Institute of
Health and Welfare (AIHW) said.
The report showed that on
a snapshot day in 2013, more
than 47,000 people received
pharmacotherapy treatment for
opioid dependence at 2,355 dosing
points, up from 2,226 in 2011-12.
Of these points, 2,078 or 88.2%
were pharmacies, up slightly from
2011-12, at 1,962, which were the
most common dosing point sites in
all states and territories, the report
found.
On average, 20 clients dosed at
each site on the snapshot day, but
on average, more than 10 times as
many clients dosed at private clinics
than at pharmacies, at 194 clients
per dosing site compared with 16;
however there were only 19 private
clinics in Australia from 2012-13.
There were 2,025 prescribers
of opioid pharmacotherapy in
2013, up 15% from 2012 and on
average each prescriber treated
fewer clients, with the ratio of
clients per prescriber falling from
26 to 23 in the time period, AIHW
spokesperson Geoff Neideck said.
Heroin was the most common
opioid drug leading people to
treatment with methadone
continuing to be the most common
pharmacotherapy drug at 68% of
clients treated, the report found.
The number of people receiving
treatment grew from about 25,000
in 1998 to about 47,000 in 2013,
but growth had slowed in recent
years to less than 1% from 2010-
2013, the report said.
Pharmaceutical Society of
Australia (PSA) Victoria Harm
Minimisation Committee
chairman Irvine Newton said
pharmacies involved in opioid
pharmacotherapy in Victoria had
increased by about 50 in the last 15
months but more were still needed
to fill the gaps where there were
few providers.
The PSA in Victoria had developed
online and face to face training
and had received four year funding
from the Victorian government
to provide this training to
pharmacists and staff, and there
seemed to be a direct link between
providing training and support and
pharmacists signing up, he said.
Community pharmacy and
general practice were ideal places
to administer pharmacotherapy as
it normalised the process for the
patient, he said.
Drug dependence was just
another disease state like
cardiovascular disease or diabetes
and opioid pharmacotherapy was
doing real pharmacy, Newton said.
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