Community Update helps keep you informed about issues around medicines use as they relate to individuals and the community.

In this issue

• NPS MedicineWatch: New funding program announced
• Men’s Health Week: sometimes medicines and machinery don’t mix
• Be medicinewise with medicine brand choices
• COTA peer educators named Volunteer of the Year 2011
• CHF packaging and labelling report

NPS MedicineWatch: New program funding announced

NPS has welcomed the announcement of federal government funding for MedicineWatch, a new national program to monitor the uptake and use of prescription medicines.

Often the long-term safety and effectiveness of medicines can only be established once a drug has entered the market and is being used by millions of people experiencing its benefits and risks.

In an Australian first, MedicineWatch will provide important data on how medicines are being used, in what conditions and with what outcomes. This information will allow policy makers and clinicians to make better informed decisions about the registration, listing and prescribing of medicines and lead to better health outcomes for all Australians.

The NPS MedicineWatch program will complement existing data sources and provide better visibility and understanding of how medicines are prescribed and their positive and negative impacts on health in a representative sample of the Australian population.

The funding was announced in the Federal Budget and is part of a wider post-marketing surveillance package to be coordinated by the Department of Health and Ageing.

Data will be collected by establishing a network of 500 general practices across Australia. It is expected to include around 1.5–2.5 million de-identified patient records. The data generated by this project will be in the public domain and available for public health and research use.

MedicineWatch is expected to generate savings to the PBS over the long-term, via interventions and the provision of better information for evidence based policy decisions.

Funding for the program is in excess of $16 million over 4 years. Further details regarding MedicineWatch will be announced over the coming months.

Men’s Health Week: sometimes medicines and machinery don’t mix

NPS has teamed up with the Australian Men’s Sheds Association (AMSA), the largest association in Australia focussed on male health and well-being, to encourage their members to be medicinewise while working with machinery.

Men’s Shed members are often involved in do-it-yourself (DIY) projects and other creative tasks involving woodwork, metalwork and associated tools, so they need to be aware of factors that may affect their safety while working, including side effects from medicines.

Most medicines will have little impact on a person’s ability to perform complex tasks, but some medicines can affect concentration and coordination. This makes certain activities, like working with power tools, dangerous. Side effects can be caused by both prescription and non-prescription medicines, including some over-the-counter pain relievers, antihistamines and cold and flu tablets.

There are a few simple steps people can take to check and see whether it is safe to drive or operate machinery while taking a medicine.

Firstly, they should read any warning stickers affixed to their medicine and follow the instructions carefully. If it indicates that mental alertness or coordination may be affected by the medicine, or explicitly states they should not drive or operate heavy machinery, then they should avoid these tasks until they are no longer taking it.

The consumer medicine information (CMI) leaflet will also contain important information on how to use a medicine safely and effectively. People should look for sections outlining ‘Things you must not do’ and ‘Things to be careful of’ when taking the medicine and avoid participating in these activities as directed.

The length of time and the degree to which medicines can impair a person’s abilities varies. Some medicines, such as those used to treat sleep disorders, can affect coordination and ability to concentrate hours after they have been taken. With others, the severity or duration of side effects may be increased when taken in combination with other medicines. If unsure, people should check with their doctor or pharmacist or call the NPS Medicine Line on 1300 MEDICINE.

Resources, including posters and information booklets, will be launched in Men’s Sheds across Australia during Men’s Health Week from 13–19 June. During this week, AMSA is also running a series of seminars entitled ‘Spanner in the Works?’ offering free health checks and information to members. For further details, contact Gary Green on 0428 133 546.

Learn more about being medicinewise.

Be medicinewise with medicine brand choices

The latest phase of the NPS Be medicinewise campaign launched in early April with a focus on medicine brand choices. The campaign aims to educate consumers on how to find and identify the active ingredient in their medicines and to give them confidence when making choices between brands.

The mass media campaign features advertisements on television, in print and online and will be supported by a series of outdoor installations in bus stations across major capital cities.

Resources for consumers will soon be available in local pharmacies including a detailed brochure explaining how and why you can make choices about your medicine brands and free copies of the NPS Medicines List which helps you keep track of your medicines.

Colourful posters and displays will also remind people they can make a choice between brands and prompt them to ask their pharmacist for further information about their medicines.

In-language versions of the brochure and Medicines List are also available for order online in Arabic, Chinese, Croatian, Greek, Italian, Korean, Spanish, Vietnamese and Macedonian.

For further details regarding the campaign, visit the medicinewise brand choices web page.

COTA peer educators named Volunteer of the Year 2011

Council on the Ageing (COTA) peer educators who deliver Medicines and You sessions on behalf of NPS have recently been named ‘Volunteer of the Year 2011’ in the team category, both in the ACT and Victoria.

NPS has been working with COTA for seven years to deliver education sessions to seniors about quality use of medicines, including managing pain, sleep problems and type 2 diabetes. Peer educators also promote the quality use of medicines at events for seniors throughout Australia.

All peer educators are volunteers and these awards recognise the enormous contribution COTA’s peer educators have made to the health and well-being of seniors.

To book a peer educator to talk to your group about medicines, contact the COTA office in your state or territory.

CHF packaging and labelling report

As part of the Community quality use of medicines and diagnostics (CQUM/D) program with NPS, the Consumers Health Forum of Australia (CHF) has just released the Achieving Best Practice in the Packing and Labelling of Medicines report, which summarises the discussions and key themes from the national consumer workshop held in December 2010.

Based on the workshop, CHF has identified 12 key recommendations for packaging and labelling in their report, including:

• The active ingredient name should be an equal size to the brand name on the medicine package or label. This text should have a prominent and readable font, position and colour.
• Where the common name appears after the brand name, it should be given prominence. This includes appropriate text size, font and colour.
• The importance of user testing to ensure the maximum clarity of the critical information on medicine packages and labels.

Read the full Achieving Best Practice in the Packing and Labelling of Medicines report. 

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