Rural QUM Project

People in rural and regional Australia have poorer access to health information than people in metropolitan areas. To help redress the situation, the NPS Community Quality Use of Medicines (CQUM) Program has embarked on the Rural QUM Project. The project will help rural people:

• find balanced and credible information about medicines
• communicate with their healthcare providers 
• become active medicines partners
• use multiple medicines safely.

The project has four components. A community engagement program will help communities and small groups run one-off events to promote the quality use of medicines (QUM) to consumers. This component will be co-ordinated by the Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia, the national health consumer organisation.

A number of rural communities and organisations will be given grants of up to $25,000 to help them develop and implement long-term QUM projects in their areas. This component will be run in association with the National Rural Health Alliance and the Health Consumers of Rural and Regional Australia.

These two components will be supported by a resource kit and media campaign. The kit will provide tips and resources (one-stop shop) for consumers and community organisations running QUM activities. The media campaign will promote the Rural QUM Project’s messages and activities, and encourage people and organisations to participate.

If your group would like more information about the project click here.

MIP Project wins award

The Medicine Information Persons (MIP) Project, run by the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association of NSW (CPSA), recently won the community section of the National QUM Awards.

The National QUM Awards are an initiative of the National Prescribing Service (NPS) and the Pharmaceutical Health And Rational use of Medicines (PHARM) Committee. They acknowledge the achievements of quality use of medicines projects in Australia.

Raquiba Jahan accepting the National QUM Award (community section) on behalf of the Medicine Information Persons (MIP) Project. 

The Medicine Information Persons (MIP) Project, which began in 1991, helps older people learn about medicines and use them wisely. In Sydney, the project recruits older people from 13 different language communities, and trains them to educate their peers in the community. For more information about the project visit the CPSA website at www.cpsa.org.au.

CQUM workshop  

On 27 May 2004, 74 people gathered in Sydney to  participate in the ‘Building on the Foundations’ workshop, which was organised by the NPS CQUM Program. Participants represented all the quality use of medicines stakeholders: consumers, community organisations, health professionals, governments and the pharmaceutical industry. The participants endorsed the directions and achievements of the program to date, and discussed their visions for the future.