\u201cPharmacists can only supply a maximum of three months of your medicines at any one time, even if your prescription covers a longer period,\u201d Gaudin says.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou will need to collect any repeat supplies of your medicines from the same pharmacy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The three-month dispensing limit will \u201csupport medicines access across New Zealand and reduce the safety risks associated with large quantities of medicines being stored at home\u201d, he adds.<\/p>\n
Who can benefit from 12-month prescriptions?<\/p>\n
Dr Prabani Wood, a GP at Waikato University Student Health and director of the Royal New Zealand College of GPs, says extended prescriptions will benefit some patients.<\/p>\n
\u201cLonger prescription lengths are definitely going to be useful for some patients and save them personally some money. However, it\u2019s not going to suit a lot of patients as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Controlled drugs such as opiates won\u2019t be available on a 12-month prescription, but oral contraceptives will \u2013 they currently have a six-month prescribing limit. From February 1, you\u2019ll still only be able to pick up six months\u2019 worth of contraceptive pills at a time.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re on long-term medication that requires regular monitoring such as blood tests, you may not be eligible for a 12-month prescription. Some patients with complex medical issues may be on several different prescriptions, some of which will need closer monitoring than others. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for patients to understand that prescribers determine whether it\u2019s clinically safe and appropriate to prescribe your medicines for up to 12 months,\u201d Gaudin says.<\/p>\n
\u201cTalk to your GP about what\u2019s best for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
What are the risks of extending prescriptions?<\/p>\n
Wood says a concern for GPs is that people could miss out on their regular doctor\u2019s visits if they have longer prescriptions.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we would love … is people having their regular GP that they see and build up that relationship with,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat continuity of care is so vital in general practice. It\u2019s what makes general practice work. But over the years through lack of GPs, lack of funding, we\u2019re starting to lose that and we\u2019re getting that fragmentation of care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Some people are prescribed medication through a specialist or secondary care provider, for certain chronic conditions, rather than by their GP, which adds another layer of complexity to the change.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of the biggest issues is that visibility of dispensing, and we don\u2019t have the IT systems set up properly \u2013 well, it varies across the country \u2013 to be able to see where a prescription was dispensed and whether it\u2019s been collected appropriately or not,\u201d Wood says.<\/p>\n
\u201cCommunication with the pharmacy is really even more vital. Depending on which IT system you use in general practice, you can write notes to the pharmacist, but they don\u2019t always see it, so it can cause issues.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whether you’re eligible for a 12-month prescription is up to your GP. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n
Will it ease workloads for GPs and pharmacists?<\/p>\n
Approving repeats are just one of many daily admin tasks for GPs, Wood says.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately the way most of us as GPs do our repeat prescriptions [is] usually in our breaks or before you start seeing patients for the day, or you just grab a couple of minutes here and there.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I don\u2019t think it\u2019s going to free up a huge amount of GP time, and initially it\u2019s probably going to add to our workload when we have to have those discussions with patients.\u201d<\/p>\n
Each GP practice will vary in how they practically deal with the change, as their patient loads will differ.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are definitely some practices where the majority of their patients are elderly, and they\u2019re going to be complex,\u201d she says. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have two patients on the same set of medications and one could be eligible for a longer prescription and one not. It all depends on the patient.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf a GP is saying \u2018No, I\u2019m afraid you\u2019re not eligible for a 12-month prescription\u2019, it will be due to clinical safety, not because they just want to keep seeing you.\u201d<\/p>\n
Extending prescriptions will likely increase pharmacy workloads, Gaudin says.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor community pharmacies, the introduction of 12-month prescriptions presents new operational and administrative challenges. We have developed guidance to support member pharmacies in navigating the transition and applying the new regulations and funding rules consistently and safely.\u201d<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand told the Herald, \u201cWe won\u2019t know the impact of the change until the policy is implemented next week. We will continue to monitor the situation and provide support to our members as required.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe worked closely with the College of GPs and the Pharmacy Guild on a poster for pharmacies and we have issued guidance to our members. We have also worked closely with Health NZ which has also made resources available to the public. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf a patient has any concerns or questions, talk to your pharmacist or your GP.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bethany Reitsma is a lifestyle writer who has been with the NZ Herald since 2019. She specialises in all things health and wellbeing and is passionate about telling Kiwis\u2019 real-life stories.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He told RNZ earlier this month, \u201cThe removal of co-payments will also reduce the complexity of implementing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":729367,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4315],"tags":[216848,73292,22885,3576,21003,105,7764,256,43071,216849,4326,76855,3424,1939,6093,216850,16,15,7765,9985,1445,9642],"class_list":{"0":"post-729366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-12month","9":"tag-available","10":"tag-february","11":"tag-for","12":"tag-from","13":"tag-health","14":"tag-heres","15":"tag-in","16":"tag-know","17":"tag-longterm","18":"tag-medication","19":"tag-need","20":"tag-nz","21":"tag-prescriptions","22":"tag-to","23":"tag-twelvemonth","24":"tag-uk","25":"tag-united-kingdom","26":"tag-what","27":"tag-will","28":"tag-you","29":"tag-zealand"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115980408243333338","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=729366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/729366\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/729367"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=729366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=729366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=729366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}