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FACT SHEET
Poisons (Miscellaneous Amendments) Bill 2017
This Bill will make amendments to the Poisons Act 1971 that improve
administrative arrangements for health workforce access to scheduled substances,
while also retaining adequate controls to ensure the safety of the public.
The scope of practice of allied health professions in Australia is increasingly
evolving to include scheduled substances as part of treatment regimes in order to
meet the needs of patients and clients. The Bill therefore extends the
Regulation-making powers to include prescribing, sale and supply of scheduled
substances by authorised health professionals, provided that they are acting within
their professional scope of practice. Podiatric surgeons and podiatrists with an
endorsement for scheduled medicines are the immediate priority for professions
to be included as authorised health professionals in the regulations and thereby
granted prescribing rights in Tasmania.
The Bill also provides for the Minister for Health to make short-term interim
orders that enable early access by authorised health professionals to scheduled
substances while regulations are being made. Interim orders are to be time-
limited for a period of not more than six months and are similar to existing
Ministerial orders under the Poisons Act.
The Bill introduces scheduled substance licences for first aid providers to ensure
timely granting of access to scheduled substances for first aid providers and to
enable access to be suspended or revoked for non-compliance with licence
conditions.
The Bill makes changes to administrative and legislative arrangements in relation
to section 59E of the Poisons Act 1971, to improve processes regarding
authorities to make drugs available to certain patients. The Bill also provides for
the internal review of decisions on section 59E applications, with the right of
review to be available to the practitioner concerned as well as the affected
patient.
The Bill seeks to amend the Poisons Act 1971 to amend or remove a number of
outdated provisions to better reflect and support contemporary practice.
Changes include removing the provisions relating to telegrams, updating
provisions to provide the option of electronic recording of Poisons information
and updating outdated terminology.
Some other minor matters dealt with by the Bill include:
o requiring that veterinary surgeons must be practicing in Tasmania to
prescribe narcotic substances and certain restricted substances within
Tasmania;
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o extending the term of wholesale chemist licenses to up to two years to
reduce the regulatory burden on licensees; and
o updating the provisions regarding notification to the Secretary in relation to
notifiable restricted substances or narcotic substances and notifying drug
seeking behaviour.
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