E-Surgery, Evaro and E-Pharmacy (9012167) - Improvement action plan

The pharmacy does not adequately manage the risks associated with its prescribing service. People can purchase medicines which are high risk or require ongoing monitoring without the knowledge of their regular prescriber or a confirmed diagnosis. And the pharmacy does not adequately assess the risks for all new medicines and conditions added to their website.

As the pharmacy now has access to SCR, we put a policy in place mandating that all patients consent to their SCR being checked when seeking treatments for high risk treatments that require regular monitoring such as underactive thyroid, high blood pressure and diabetes. Where SCR is unavailable (such as for overseas patients), the prescribers will make a risk-based decision on how to proceed with the medication request including seeking additional information from the patient.
We will use SCR to independently verify the patient’s diagnosis and past medical history. Where SCR is unavailable or not up to date, the prescribers will make a risk-based decision on how to proceed with the medication request. In such cases, we will require prescribers to state the justification for their decision and we will perform regular audits to ensure that this justification is being documented.