Question

idenify the legislation relevant to health drugs and poisons legislation in Western Australia  and how this impact to your nursing practice in Western Australia

Answer 1

The Western Australia Medicines and Poisons Act 2014 (external site) adopts the Standard for the Uniform Scheduling of Medicines and Poisons (SUSMP) (external site). More information on scheduling, including the SUSMP, is available from the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) (external site).

The Poisons Standard is a Legislative Instrument for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003 . The Poisons Standard consists of decisions regarding the classification of medicines and poisons into Schedules for inclusion in the relevant legislation of the States and Territories.

The Food Act 2008 (external site) is the principal piece of legislation regulating the production and sale of food in Western Australia with the Food Regulations 2009 (external site) as the subsidiary legislation.

he Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch of the Western Australian Department of Health provides advice, develops policy and administers regulatory controls for:

• medicines, including drugs of dependence (Schedule 8 medicines)
• therapeutic goods
• poisons.

The Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch is responsible for the administration of the Medicines and Poisons Act 2014 (external site), the Medicines and Poisons Regulations 2016 (external site) and the Schedule 8 Medicines Prescribing Code

IMPACT ON NURSING PRACTISE

The 1965 Regulations only accommodates the autonomous (or traditional) prescribing model, whereby an individual sees a medical practitioner or other authorised practitioner and receives a prescription, which provides instruction for supply of a medicine by a pharmacist Due to the need to improve access to particular medicines, whilst still managing associated risks, specific exemption clauses have been added over time to the 1965 Regulations. This helps extend the reach of prescribers through use of registered nurses or other practitioners. It partly addresses some of these known consumer access issues. Historically, a range of special authorisations have been made under the 1965. Where pressing public need has existed, certain practitioners without a professional authority have been afforded access via regulations that exempt administration or supply of a named medicine from provisions of the Act in specified situations.

For example: • A registered nurse may administer an influenza vaccine in accordance with a Structured Prescribing Arrangement issued by a medical practitioner.

In this example, the following would be necessary: • The registered nurse must be employed by that medical practitioner or within the same health provider organisation. The arrangement may not extend beyond any terms of that employment. The arrangement is only applicable to patients under the care of that medical practitioner; and • The arrangement must be in writing. The original document must be retained at the medical practitioner’s usual place of practice. Any registered nurse authorised and using the Arrangement must be able to access a copy. The medical practitioner must to be able to produce this document on demand; and • The arrangement covers a period of up to two years, after which a review by the authorising medical practitioner must take place. If intended to continue, a new arrangement must be written. Documents must be retained for two years after expiration.