Patients will be able to get up to one month’s supply of their usual medicine from pharmacies without a script through the continued dispensing arrangements now extended until June 2020.
Thanks for joining us today on TMR’s live COVID-19 blog. Stay healthy.
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The latest
- Greg Hunt announces ‘integrated partnership’ with private hospitals to help with COVID-19 response.
- Continued dispensing arrangements extended to enable patients to access PBS medicines even without script.
- Want the latest, best, evidence-based advice on hygiene and infection control? It’s here.
6.35pm, 31 March
- Today seems to have been slightly less intense on the COVID-19 front, although there have been some big government announcements. In case you missed it, here are some of the main developments since this morning:
– Pop-up COVID-19 testing clinics could soon appear in high-risk areas, like Bondi Beach;
– Private hospitals are entering into an ‘integrated partnership’ with the federal government to help with the pandemic, freeing up more than 30,000 beds and over 100,000 medical personnel;
– The continued dispensing arrangements put in place during the bushfires to enable people to get a month’s supply of their PBS medication without a script will continue at least until June 2020;
– There are a few more details available now about the new telehealth MBS item numbers;
– The SARS–CoV-2 virus could still be present in sputum and faeces even after patients have a negative pharyngeal swab.
- Patients will be able to get up to one month’s supply of their usual medicine from pharmacies without a script, as the federal government moves to ensure Australians can continue to access PBS medicines through the COVID-19 pandemic.
Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt announced that he is extending the continued dispensing arrangements – which were originally put in place during the 2019/2020 bushfires – to 30 June 2020. This means patients can get their usual medicines at PBS prices from a pharmacist, even if they’re unable to get a new prescription from their doctor.
The government is also establishing a new ‘home medicines’ service to enable home delivery of PBS and RPBS medicines for vulnerable people or those in isolation.
To deal with potential shortages of medicines, pharmacists will also be allowed to substitute dose strengths or forms of medicines without getting the doctor’s prior approval, if they don’t have the prescribed medicine available.
- The federal government is nationalising the private hospital sector, but not really.
Health minister Greg Hunt has just announced an “integrated partnership” with the private hospital sector to open up more than 30,000 beds and 105,000 hospital staff – including 57,000 nurses and midwives – to help with the COVID-19 pandemic. He described it as a “once-in-a-century redesign of our hospital services.”
- MBS Online has posted a more detailed information sheet with Q&As about the new telehealth item numbers. It answers questions about the type of telehealth options, whether they have to be bulk-billed, can the item numbers be used for multiple attendances, writing prescriptions or pathology requests, co-claiming and assignment of benefits, among other things. There’s no further clarification on the general practice nurse questions as yet.
- Want to know the world’s best, evidence-based infection control and prevention practices for COVID-19 (so you can shout them at your colleagues/friends/family/patients)?
The University of Adelaide JBI (Joanna Briggs Institute – an international research organisation) is on the case. They’ve summarised the latest evidence on topics such as hand hygiene, hand-washing and personal protective equipment – with a focus on clinicians – and included step-by-step diagrams and posters so you can download and plaster them all over the place.
- The SARS–CoV-2 virus could still be present in sputum and faeces even after patients have a negative pharyngeal swab, new data suggests.
A research letter published today in the Annals of Internal Medicine reports that 22 of 133 patients (16.5%) admitted to Beijing Ditan Hospital with COVID-19 were found to have a positive sputum or faecal RT-PCR test for SARS–CoV-2 but a negative pharyngeal sample. The sputum and faeces samples remained positive for up to 39 and 13 days respectively after the negative pharyngeal sample.
“These finding raise concerns about whether patients with negative pharyngeal swabs are truly virus-free, or sampling of additional body sites is needed,” the authors wrote. However they emphasised that they didn’t know whether the positive sputum or faecal swabs meant the patient was still infectious.
- Pop-up testing clinics for COVID-19 could soon be appearing in areas with high levels of infections, such as Bondi Beach, The Australian reports.
NSW chief health officer Dr Kerry Chant said she wanted to increase testing in areas where there are clusters of infections and community transmission, such as the Waverley local government area in Sydney.
The current testing criteria for COVID-19 in NSW includes people who live in areas where COVID-19 outbreaks have occurred, and who show symptoms consistent with infection.
- As of 3pm yesterday (Monday 30 March), Australia had 4245 confirmed cases of COVID-19 – up 279 cases from the day before – and 18 deaths. More than 226,000 tests have been conducted in Australia so far.
The state/territory breakdown of confirmed cases is as follows:
ACT – 78
NSW – 1918
NT – 14
QLD – 689
SA – 305
TAS – 65
VIC – 821
WA – 355
You can also see the most up-to-date figures, including the numbers of new cases, source of transmission, age breakdown and charts that we don’t quite have the time to do here.
