3 August, 2007

A National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) national campaign commencing August 6 may result in an increased number of consumers asking their health professional questions about medicines.

“We want to support communication between health professionals and consumers about QUM” explained NPS CEO, Lynn Weekes.

"We are also hoping to increase consumers’ active participation in their decisions about medicines, including choice about the use of generics, by encouraging them to ask their health professional.”

Consequently the television advertising, based on real people telling their medicine stories,ends with voice-overs at the end of each commercial reiterating: “Get to Know YourMedicines. Ask your doctor, pharmacist or call NPS Medicines Line.”

There are two phases to the campaign which runs from August until October: From August 6 – September 15 the campaign messages will focus on general Quality Use of Medicines (QUM) issues and the second phase from September 16 - October 31 will focus on messages about generic medicines.

The generic medicines additional campaign message is “Generic medicines are an equal choice”, encouraging the use of generic medicines when it is safe to do so.

The campaign aims to increase consumer awareness and understanding about the medicines they are taking in order to minimize the possibilities of side effects and interactions.

Lynn Weekes explained “there is a high incidence of preventable adverse medicines events in Australia. It is estimated that more than 140,000 people are hospitalised every year as a result of medication-related problems. There is also evidence that between 50-75% of the drug-related hospitalisations are potentially preventable.

It is important people talk with their doctor or pharmacist and have access to accurate and evidence-based information so they can make better informed decisions about their medicines.”

Details of the campaign, including the television commercials and an extensive array of free resources available to order, may be found at  www.nps.org.au

National Prescribing Service Limited (NPS) is an independent, non-profit organisation for Quality Use of Medicines funded by the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing.