In 2017, the Western Australian Parliament established the Joint Select Committee on End-of-Life Choices to inquire into the need for laws in WA to allow citizens to make informed decisions regarding their own end-of-life choices. The Committee conducted extensive consultation throughout its...
Closes 8 December 2023
Local Government enforcement agencies are required to report to the Department of Health on their performance of functions under the Food Act 2008 (Food Act) (as required by section 121) and the Public Health Act 2016 (Public Health Act) (as required by section 22). The Food Act reporting...
Closed 17 November 2023
The WA Department of Health End of Life Care (EOLC) Program welcomes your views to gain a better understanding of the current uptake of advance care planning (ACP) and use of ACP resources in WA via this online survey. Advance care planning (ACP) is a voluntary process of...
Closed 15 November 2023
The Midwives Notification System (MNS) in Western Australia (WA) has been collecting data since 1980. During this time, the Department of Health (the Department) has produced over 30 annual reports containing information on women who gave birth in WA and their infants. The Department has also...
Closed 1 November 2023
Be part of the strategy development that aims to eliminate... HIV viral hepatitis (as a public health threat) congenital syphilis WA Department of Health’s (DoH) current suite of WA Sexual Health and Blood-borne Virus Strategies 2019-2023 are due to lapse on 31...
Closed 8 October 2023
The Department of Health is consulting on a Draft Code of Practice for On-site Wastewater Disposal (Code of Practice). The aim is to adopt the Code of Practice within new wastewater regulations to be drafted under the Public Health Act 2016. Background Stage 5 of...
Closed 28 September 2023
Here are some of the issues we have consulted on and their outcomes. See all outcomes
The consultation was about amendments to the Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016 and the Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code. A primary aim of the consultation was to seek feedback on proposals to reduce regulatory burden, particularly for prescribers.
The proposed changes follow implementation of ScriptCheckWA, Western Australia’s real-time prescription monitoring system. ScriptCheckWA provides clinicians with up-to-date information about all monitored medicines prescribed and dispensed for their patient within WA.
The survey was set up so respondents could choose to answer only those questions most relevant to them.
A total of 39 submissions were received in response to the discussion paper. Eighteen were from organisations and 21 were from individuals.
Peak bodies representing prescribers, pharmacists and consumers responded. A significant number of respondents confined their feedback to either the section about regulation of stimulant medicines or the section about regulation of medicinal cannabis.
Most respondents supported a requirement for prescribers and pharmacists to register to access ScriptCheckWA. Opinion was divided about whether use of ScriptcheckWA, at the time of prescribing or dispensing, should be mandated.
There was general support for regulating the prescribing of stimulant medicines and medicinal cannabis in a similar manner to other Schedule 8 medicines. Detailed prescribing restrictions would be included in a ‘prescribing code’ rather than in the Regulations.
Over half the respondents supported the list of Schedule 4 medicine proposed to be classified as ‘monitored medicines’. Another 26% of respondents supported most of the medicines on the list being monitored through ScriptCheckWA.
Following agreement by the Minister for Health, regulatory changes are being progressed. Details of the final proposals are available in the Consultation Report (April 2023).
Further targeted consultation will be undertaken during development of a new prescribing code to replace the current Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code.
We asked the following questions of all survey respondents:
We also asked a series of specific questions depending on whether respondents worked in a Health Service Provider or the Department of Health.
You said the key issues facing our safety and quality system include:
Your feedback contained a mix of concrete suggestions for safety and quality activities and initiatives, and ways of working towards these within the confines of our health system.
We have used your feedback to help shape detailed goal setting for the Patient Safety and Clinical Quality Directorate’s Strategy 2022-2025.
We will continue to refer to specific comments and feedback as we implement the Strategy.
The Office of Population Health Genomics asked stakeholders for their feedback on the draft WA Genomics Strategy and their views to inform the development of the strategy’s first implementation plan.
The strategy has one overarching vision – that all Western Australians benefit from the timely and appropriate translation of genomics, enabling precision medicine and precision public health.
A total of 66 responses were received through Citizen Space and 2 written responses were received via email. The key themes that emerged from the responses are summarised below.
Vision:
Underlying principles:
Enablers of success:
Priority areas, goals and initiatives:
Stakeholders also provided valuable input to shape the content of the strategy’s implementation plan, particularly the key actions to complete in the first two years.
In response to the feedback, the Office of Population Health Genomics:
The final WA Genomics Strategy 2022-2032: Towards precision medicine and precision public health is now available to view here.
Any queries can be directed to genomics@health.wa.gov.au.