Department of Health, WA

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:

• What are your biggest current strategic challenges for safety and quality in WA Health?
• How can the DoH support your S&Q initiatives and priorities?
• How can the DoH improve collaboration to drive effective safety and quality in WA Health?

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:

• The availability of high-quality, accessible safety and quality data, and a desire for more skills to use data effectively to support safety and quality initiatives;
• HSP and DOH awareness and ability to implement contemporary approaches to quality and quality improvement in healthcare;
• Resourcing to support a strong, positive patient safety culture, and to sustain positive safety culture long-term;
• Barriers to compliance with safety and quality measures and engagement between the Department and Health Service Providers to proactively resolve patient safety issues

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:

• More than 20 respondents explicitly agreed with or made positive comments about the vision.
• More than 10 respondents commented on the term “maximise the transformative potential”, suggesting that it was either too ambiguous or not beneficial to include.
• Some respondents suggested that the vision needed to be more patient focussed.

Underlying principles:

• All comments received were positive and in support of the underlying principles.
• Some additional principles were suggested for inclusion – the most mentioned ones being innovation, privacy and confidentiality, accountability, integrity, and collaboration.
• A couple of respondents suggested that seven underlying principles was too many.

Enablers of success:

• The feedback received was overall supportive of the enablers of success.
• There were mixed responses around what “governance” should encompass, indicating that this word can take on different meanings for different stakeholder groups.
• Eight respondents commented on the critical need for reliable and ongoing funding, suggesting that this should be an enabler of success.

Priority areas, goals and initiatives:

• More than 20 respondents explicitly agreed with or made positive comments about the priority areas.
• More than 10 respondents suggested including more detail on the needs, preferences and roles of various stakeholder groups relevant to genomics, i.e. carers and guardians beyond immediate family members, peer support groups, regional and remote patients and staff, allied health professionals, not-for-profit organisations, and the private sector.
• Other factors important to multiple stakeholder groups were:
  • Co-design and co-production with health consumers
  • Secure and sustainable funding of the genomics workforce and services to ensure continuation and growth
  • Improving the genomic literacy of health professionals and consumers
  • Ethical use of genomic data
  • Equity of access.

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:

• Amended the vision to be clearer.
• Consolidated the number of underlying principles from seven to four and incorporated the additional principles suggested by stakeholders in the process. The only exceptions were accountability and collaboration, as they were already included as enablers of success.
• Removed governance from the enablers of success to minimise confusion. Governance is instead covered in the conclusion section with additional details on what the strategy’s governance structure will look like for additional clarity.
• Amended the content of the strategic priorities to better reflect stakeholders’ values and views, including:
  • Referring to a multi-professional genomics workforce and incorporating vignettes to acknowledge the diverse applications and many successes of genomics in WA.
  • Emphasising the critical role of health consumers in the co-creation (i.e. co-design and co-production) of genomic healthcare services and policies.
  • Elevating sustainable investment as an enabler of success to signify that this is critical to ensure the goals of all strategic priorities are met.
  • Expanding on the importance of genomic and health literacy for both health professionals and consumers.
  • Highlighting the need to protect privacy and trust with all community members.
• Considered stakeholder’s views in drafting the strategy’s first implementation plan (internal working document).

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.