Last week in the Victorian Parliament a motion calling for the introduction of electronic prescribing for veterinarians was moved by Georgie Purcell. The motion was carried unanimously—with the support of the Victorian Government and all members—demonstrating multi-party support for this important reform for the veterinary industry and animal owners.
Electronic prescribing would remove the paperwork burden that has long weighed on veterinary practices, while giving animal owners greater choice and convenience when filling prescriptions. Advocates say the shift to secure e-script technology would also strengthen public safety.
“It’s often hard to find issues the entire parliament can agree on, but supporting our vets is one of them,” she said in a social media post.
“Electronic prescription means lower medication costs, less travel, fewer barriers to accessing veterinary care for our animals, and reducing some of the pressures on the vet sector,” said Purcell.
Due to varying state-based regulations around veterinary prescriptions, eScripts for animal health cases are generally not an accepted form of prescription.
Commonwealth and state regulators have repeatedly denied vets the right to use eScripts because of what they claim is a lack of infrastructure to facilitate information exchange between vets and pharmacists.
Megan Auld, CEO of online vet store Vets Love Pets and its stablemate prescription exchange platform VetScript, is one of several industry leaders advocating for vets to be permitted to issue electronic prescriptions directly to pharmacies. She received personal acknowledgement for her role in advocating for this commonsense reform that will reduce the legacy paperwork burden on vet practices, will deliver greater choice and convenience for animal owners, and will enhance public safety through secure e-script technology.
In a report on the issue last year, she told Vet Practice that “Veterinarians provide vital services to help secure Australia’s food supply chain and provide specialised health care to the 69 per cent of Australian households that have pets. Along with improved animal welfare and greater peace of mind for all animal carers, fast and secure animal prescriptions help to ease the burden on vets and improve data security, traceability and efficiency of animal medicines management across Australia.”
She added that the change in Victoria legislation “is a huge step forward for the veterinary industry and for pet owners who will get access to e-scripts for their pet medications for the first time.”
