The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (the Commission) is seeking input to inform the review and updating of the national Quality Use of Medicines publication: Guiding Principles to Achieve Continuity in Medication Management (July 2005).
CreakyJoints Australia, together with our parent non-profit organisation, Global Healthy Living Foundation Australia (GHLF Australia) will be submitting our feedback for the review and we’d like to include your comments. Read on for further information then email your comments to us no later than 5 pm on Friday 17 December.
What are the Quality Use of Medicines Guiding Principles?
The following information has been taken from the Updating the Guiding Principles to Achieve Continuity in Medication Management consultation paper.
The National Medicines Policy (NMP) underpins people’s access and use of medicines.
Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) is one of the central objectives of Australia’s NMP. It focuses on:
- Selecting management options wisely
- Choosing suitable medicines if a medication is considered necessary, and
- Using medicines safely and effectively.
Medicines include prescription, non-prescription, and complementary medicines.
Three national QUM publications relating to medication management include:
- Guiding Principles To Achieve Continuity In Medication Management (July 2005)
- Guiding Principles For Medication Management in Residential Aged Care Facilities (October 2012)
- Guiding Principles For Medication Management in the Community (June 2006)
Due to the staggered timing of these reviews, the guiding principles in Residential Aged Care Facilities and In the Community are subject to a separate consultation process that is currently underway.
Why Do These Guiding Principles Need to be Reviewed?
Since the Guiding Principles were published in 2005, the Australian healthcare landscape has evolved. While the breadth of activities related to medication safety in Australia is large, there remains opportunities to improve the integration of these efforts. Improved coordination is necessary, both between systems and between health professionals. There is a greater focus on the need for coordinated care and collaboration across multidisciplinary teams and the emerging role of digital health in facilitating medication safety at transitions of care.
The update of the national QUM publication needs to consider the changes that have occurred throughout the healthcare environment, to ensure it remains relevant and fit for purpose.
What the Review Could Mean for You
Changes to the existing Guiding Principles to Achieve Continuity in Medication Management will help to:
- Improve the collaboration and care coordination between your healthcare providers — particularly if you have complex needs;
- Ensure the members of your healthcare team involve you in every step of your transitions of care, meet your information needs and share the decision-making about your treatment options.
- Improve how your medication history is documented and shared;
- Ensure you have sufficient supplies of medicines and information about how to obtain further supply of your medicines — especially during supply shortages;
- Ensure that digital health communication strategies are optimised and standardised to operate smoothly between sectors and different health professions; and much more.
What We’d Like You to Do
The Commission is seeking input from people receiving care, consumers, carers, clinicians, service providers and other stakeholders across the healthcare sector. Gaining the views and perspectives of stakeholders will be a critical aspect to updating the national QUM publication to ensure they are relevant and meet your needs.
- Please refer to the Guiding Principles to Achieve Continuity in Medication Management consultation paper.
- Read through all the questions and recommendations starting from Page 8.
- Decide if you wish to comment on all or some of the questions.
- Type your comments and send them to us. You can do this by:
- Typing your comments into a Word document and attaching that to your email OR
- Typing your comments directly into your email.
- Ensure you have clearly noted which question(s) you are commenting on. For example, Question 8: Recommendation 1. Your comments can be as simple as a few bullet points or as long as two or three paragraphs.
How to Submit Your Feedback to Us
Please email your comments to Rosemary Ainley at rosemary@creakyjoints.org.au no later than 5 pm on Friday 17 December.
We will collate your replies into a single submission and send it to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care on your behalf.
If you wish to make your own submission directly to the Commission you can do so. You will find instructions for this within the discussion paper document.
Kind regards,
The CreakyJoints Australia and GHLF Australia teams
