Page 2488 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 18 August 1993
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MR BERRY (Minister for Health, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for Sport) (4.37), in reply: Once the Government had made the decision that it wanted to expand the program, some legislative changes were necessary. Those were dealt with earlier on. I said in the Estimates Committee to Mrs Carnell, in relation to some questions that she raised, that I would look into the problems and if there was one I would fix it, and here we are dealing with it.
There have been some discussions about the differences between supply, administration and dispensing of methadone. In the terms of the legislation as it was first passed, there was a fairly strong requirement that most of the administration of methadone had to be supervised one way or another by a pharmacist or a medical practitioner. These amendments seek to make it easier for nurses in the government facilities to be able to supply methadone to people who have been placed on the program. Mr Moore said that he thought that the program was up to 350. It has not quite reached that number yet, but that was the target. We are moving down the path of expanding it continually. I had better not give an exact figure, but it is significantly higher than it once was. I think it was 283, or something of that order, but I would stand corrected if it was one way or the other.
"Dispensing", according to my advice, is the preparation of a specific dose of methadone which can be supplied at that time or later to the methadone client. "Administering" is providing a dose of methadone to a client and then observing that client take the dose. "Supply" is providing a previously prepared dose or take-away dose to a client who then takes it away for use at the appropriate time, and at present the supply of take-away doses by a nurse must be witnessed by a pharmacist in terms of the legislation. Clause 5 of the Bill allows nurses at government methadone clinics to supply take-away doses when witnessed by another nurse. That take-away dose must still be dispensed by a pharmacist.
Turning to the issue of the provision of methadone from community pharmacies, clause 6 of the Bill as proposed by the Government provides different witnessing arrangements at methadone centres approved under subsection 150(1) of the Act. These centres, Mr Deputy Speaker, are community pharmacies which have been approved by me to provide methadone to drug dependent people. The Bill will allow pharmacists to dispense, administer and supply methadone to drug dependent people without the need for witnessing prescription. This clause of the Bill does not apply to government methadone treatment centres.
Mr Deputy Speaker, Mrs Carnell has proposed an amendment which removes the necessity to record the amount of methadone remaining in stock after each client is dosed. While the Government saw this requirement as a means of monitoring methadone levels, it accepts that a record of the level at the beginning and end of each shift is adequate, and we are not going to die in a ditch over that issue. There is a question of how tightly you want to control the recording systems for methadone. That has to be weighed against how much staff energy you want to put into the recording process. On balance, we are prepared to cop what Mrs Carnell has proposed. We will welcome the amendment. So there we have it. I thank members for their support for the Bill in principle.
Question resolved in the affirmative.
Bill agreed to in principle.
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