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Pharmaceutical Reform in Victoria's Public Hospitals
Victoria is committed to improving the continuum of care for patients moving between the hospital and the community. As part of this strategy, the Commonwealth and Victoria have been working together to improve the way patients get their medication by bringing the Commonwealth's Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme (PBS) to public hospitals.
The reforms are designed to make it safer, easier and more convenient for patients to receive adequate medication, and to bring public hospitals on to a more equal footing with private hospitals. The key objectives of the reforms are to:
- Provide patients with up to one month's supply of medications on discharge rather than the two to seven days supply they previously received
- Improve continuity of pharmaceutical care by allowing public hospitals to access the same pharmaceutical scheme that operates in the community, the PBS, thereby decreasing confusion about medications
- Restore equity between public and private hospital patients and decrease the financial burden on public hospital pharmacies by allowing them access to a group of chemotherapy drugs for use by day-admitted patients and outpatients
- Improve communication with both patients and primary health care providers through the implementation of the Australian Pharmaceutical Advisory Council guidelines on the continuum of pharmaceutical care. Allowing sufficient time for paperwork to be sent from hospitals and received by primary health care providers before the patient presents for their first post-hospital visit.
PBS reforms are being implemented gradually across the State.
For a list of all hospitals participating in the reforms, see Participating Hospitals.
