Legislative changes on medication administration in residential aged care

Overview

The Victorian Government has passed a Bill to include new provisions in the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and the Nurses Act 1993. The new provisions have effect from 30 May 2006, to co-incide with the making of the new Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Regulations 2006.

The changes to the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 require approved providers of residential aged care to ensure that administration of medication to all high care residents is managed by a Registered Nurse Division 1,3 or 4. This means that the administration of medication to high care residents must now be managed by a nurse rather than necessarily administered by a nurse in every instance. The approach will make better use of skilled professional resources, is consistent with nursing and other health workforce trends and will improve quality of care for residents not presently covered by regulation, without requiring that a nurse administer every dose of medication in every instance.

The change will shift the focus of regulation from the setting to the resident, ensuring that high care residents receive the same protection under the law wherever they live. It extends the coverage from high care residents in nursing homes to all high care residents of residential aged care services. The amendment extends coverage of regulation and professional supervision of administration to more than 9500 additional residents.

The new legislation requires nurses to have regard to guidelines (a ‘code’) issued by the Nurses Board of Victoria (NBV), when managing the administration of medication. The NBV has developed a code that will provide the necessary framework of professional practice standards.

Parliament has also added a provision to the Nurses Act 1993 making it an offence for a person to direct or incite a nurse to do anything that would constitute unprofessional conduct.

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Together, these changes bring the regulation of the administration of medication in line with the changing environment in residential aged care and ensure professional supervision of administration practice for all high-care residents. The changes represent the culmination of a lengthy process of development and consultation over the past two years.

A copy of the new provisions in the Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and in the Nurses Act 1993 is available on this page.

The new Drugs Poisons and Controlled Substances Regulations 2006 will include a number of provisions that support the changes, particularly in the area of recording and storage of medication. These are summarised in the paper attached.

The full text of the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 and Regulations 2006. and the Nurses Act 1993 is available at website http://www.legislation.vic.gov.au

The Code for Guidance issued by the Nurses Board of Victoria may be viewed at www.nbv.org.au

The Department of Health and the Nurses Board of Victoria have organised a series of briefing sessions commencing 29 August 2006, that will allow further discussion of the details of the changes and their implementation. For full details see the Seminar series on Medication Management in Residential Aged Care page.

Download documents

Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances (Aged Care Services) Act 2006 Part 2 - Amendment of Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (39kb, pdf)

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