This appeared a few days ago.
Pharmaceutical opioid harm surges in Vic
New data reveals more Victorians are showing up to emergency departments due to pharmaceutical opioid-related harm.
Kaitlyn Offer
Australian Associated Press September 19, 20199:17am
Victorians are inundating hospital emergency departments suffering from pharmaceutical opioid-related harm at a cost of $16 million over two years.
Opioid-related emergency presentations increased annually by an average of 3.1 per cent during the 10-year period of 2008-09 to 2017-18, according to the Monash University Accident Research Centre.
The centre's Hazard report released on Thursday says in 2015/16 to 2016/17, the years where costs were available, hospital treatment both direct and indirect for hospital admissions totalled $16.35 million.
In the three years from 2015/16 to 2017/18, there were 2618 emergency records coded as opioid poisoning, most commonly codeine and oxycodone, followed by tramadol, data shows.
The numbers for pharmaceutical opioid-related harm hospital admissions were even higher.
More here:
There was a slightly different take here:
Pharmaceutical opioid harm rising in Vic
More Victorian women present to hospital emergency departments for pharmaceutical opioid harm than men as overall numbers surge, according to new data.
Kaitlyn Offer and Christine McGinn
Australian Associated Press September 19, 20192:58pm
More women than men visit Victorian hospital emergency departments with illness caused by pharmaceutical opioids, according to a new report which reveals a decade-long surge in opioid cases.
Almost 5000 women went to emergency departments with opioid-related harm compared to 3157 men between 2008/09 to 2017/18, according to the Monash University Accident Research Centre report released on Thursday.
Harm from the prescription pain drug increased by 3.1 per cent a year on average during the 10-year period, the report says.
Between 2015/16 to 2017/18, there were 2618 emergency presentations coded as opioid poisoning, most commonly from codeine and oxycodone, followed by tramadol.
The numbers of hospital admissions for pharmaceutical opioid-related harm were even higher.
……
Health Minister Jenny Mikakos said the government had also put in $29.5 million to establish a real-time prescription monitoring system to help monitor opioid overuse.
More here:
To me the real question is just how far the rollout of the real-time prescription monitoring system has actually progressed and what we are going to see with the statistics in the next 6-12 months.
There are some hopeful anecdotes like the following below:
Victoria adopts real-time prescription monitoring across the state
The state-wide rollout of the SafeScript system is expected reduce the risk of overdose deaths for thousands of patients.
01 Apr 2019
The state-of-the-art system is able to provide doctors, nurses and pharmacists with up-to-the-minute information on the prescription history of patients attempting to access high-risk Schedule 4 and 8 medicines.
Real-time prescription monitoring was introduced across the Western Victoria Primary Health Network last October, and the system has already identified around 4500 patients visiting multiple clinics or pharmacies who are at risk of harm of overdose.
‘SafeScript has been embraced by doctors and pharmacists in Western Victoria and we know it’s saving lives,’ Victorian Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley said.
‘Prescription medicine dependency can happen to anyone. Too many lives have been tragically cut short due to the harms from some prescription medicines. Each loss is one too many.’
There were more than 400 deaths attributed to prescription medicine overdoses in Victoria in 2017, while deaths due to prescription medicines have outnumbered the road toll in the state for the past six years.
Real-time prescription monitoring was introduced across the Western Victoria Primary Health Network last October, and the system has already identified around 4500 patients visiting multiple clinics or pharmacies who are at risk of harm of overdose.
‘SafeScript has been embraced by doctors and pharmacists in Western Victoria and we know it’s saving lives,’ Victorian Minister for Mental Health Martin Foley said.
‘Prescription medicine dependency can happen to anyone. Too many lives have been tragically cut short due to the harms from some prescription medicines. Each loss is one too many.’
There were more than 400 deaths attributed to prescription medicine overdoses in Victoria in 2017, while deaths due to prescription medicines have outnumbered the road toll in the state for the past six years.
More here:
The official site is found here:
I think it is a bit early to see the full effect of the system but the next 12-24 months will surely tell.
David.
Notice the frequent use of words like "monitoring" and "reduce the risk".
ReplyDeleteIt would be nice if the initiative was backed up by a little more than "hopeful anecdotes"
If 4,500 patients have been identified in Western Victoria (with SafeScript) visiting multiple clinics and pharmacies since last October (12 months) who are at risk, what is the estimated number pro-rata across the whole of Victoria?
ReplyDelete