Pharmacy Daily | WA hospital to trial e-scripts: ADHA

ROYAL Perth Hospital will become Australia's first hospital to provide patients with electronic prescriptions to be dispensed through community pharmacies.

The Australian Digital Health Agency (ADHA) said e-scripts will initially be introduced across selected out-patient clinics, as part of a 12-week trial, before being rolled out across the hospital.

ADHA CEO, Amanda Cattermole, said the introduction of e-scripts in a hospital setting was a major step forward for patients.

"This is a fabulous development for hospital outpatients to make their lives a little easier upon leaving hospital with proven digital technology that will further enhance the reputation of Western Australia's world-class health system," she said.

"At the end of the Royal Perth Hospital trial, there will be a full-scale evaluation involving feedback from patients, clinicians and pharmacists to help inform further rollout plans for WA Health."

Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) WA Branch President, Lusi Sheehan, welcomed the rollout of e-scripts through Royal Perth Hospital, saying it would empower pharmacists and other health professionals to connect to health information more efficiently.

"It's very exciting to see the public hospital system adopting the latest technology to give out e-scripts to patients," she said.

"GPs and nurse practitioners around Australia have been utilising e-scripts for more than two years now, it's about time that public hospitals catch up."

Commenting on the planned trial, Pharmacy Guild of Australia WA Branch President, Andrew Ngeow, told Pharmacy Daily that it had the potential to improve patient outcomes after they have been discharged from hospital.

"One of the biggest problems that we have is the transition of patients out of hospital," he said.

"So anything that can smooth that out and make it easier for patients to access their medications is going to help that process, and hopefully help reduce the rate of hospital readmission."

Since the launch of e-scripts in 2020 (PD 08 May 2020), more than 45,000 prescribers have issued close to 72 million prescriptions, with more than 390,000 registrations for Active Script Lists.