Medicines Australia, PSA and SHPA welcome National Medicines Policy Review

Pharma News: Medicines Australia, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) and Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) are eager to be part of a significant moment in history for Australian healthcare.

August 2021 will mark the start of the National Medicines Policy (NMP) review, as announced by the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon Greg Hunt MP, at Medicines Australia’s event in Parliament House Room for the Patient View.

Announced on 30 July, the Review will be completed in six months and is timely to ensure the Australian healthcare system is fit-for-purpose and pandemic proof.

The Review’s Expert Advisory Committee will be chaired by Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Professor Michael Kidd AM. Its members include Professor Lloyd Sansom AO; Mrs Janette Donovan; Dr Sarah Dineen-Griffin and Mr David Herd.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Australia (PSA) National President, A/Prof Chris Freeman, congratulated PSA Life Fellow Professor Lloyd Sansom, and PSA Branch Committee Member Dr Sarah Dineen-Griffin on their appointments to the NMP Review Committee.

The Society of Hospital Pharmacists of Australia (SHPA) Chief Executive Kristin Michaels said the past two decades have seen significant steps toward more unified and cohesive approaches to medicines access across Australia’s federated system which historically divided acute hospital care and community-based primary care.

“At the same time, complex and high-cost medicines – a large proportion of which are initiated or provided to patients in hospital and specialist settings – have dominated new PBS listings, facilitating access to medicines and pharmacy services for Australians based on their preferred care providers and their preferred care settings.

“SHPA looks forward to a revised National Medicines Policy that recognises this significantly changed landscape.”

The NMP was first introduced in 1999 and this year will be the first time it has been reviewed since its implementation. Over the past two decades, medicines have changed and so have patient and consumer expectations.

The overall goal of the NMP is to optimise health outcomes for all Australians but to do that, there needs to be a greater focus on medicines governance – and this is what the NMP should do. A key part of the Review will focus on implementing metrics and measuring outcomes.

The NMP Review Terms of Reference reveal a broad scope that will look at the definitions of medicines, the governance structure, implementation, and evaluation. Most importantly, the Review will put the patient at the centre of policy thinking.

According to Medicines Australia, one of the key considerations in transforming the NMP will be consumer expectations and having a stronger patient focus.

Two of the pillars of the NMP are that all Australians should have timely and affordable access to essential medicines, and that medicines should be prescribed and used appropriately.

Yet the reality is that these goals are not being met for all Australians – such as those in remote and regional communities, or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

A key part of Medicines Australia’s recommendations will continue to be ensuring that the central role of consumers and patients is appropriately reflected in a refreshed NMP that is fit-for-purpose.