This policy outlines the expectations for the writing of prescriptions for medications, the policy for handling lost scripts, and the policy regarding patient requests for scripts between consultations for all children seen at clinics run by Hunter Children’s Clinics Pty Ltd.

The policy is designed to communicate to patients, their families, medical staff, and administrative staff at Hunter Children’s Clinics Pty Ltd the organisations expectations of handling requests for prescriptions for medications.

This policy applies to all patients or clients seen at clinics run by Hunter Children’s Clinics Pty Ltd. This policy also applies to all employees, contractors, and students, who work within Hunter Children’s Clinics Pty Ltd.

Many of the medications prescribed by paediatricians require authorisation to be prescribed from Medicare and are written on authority scripts.

Prescriptions should be written by doctors with enough repeats so that the patient will not run out of medication prior to the next appointment.

Follow up appointments should be booked at least two weeks in advance of the date that the prescription will run out.

Prescriptions for medications such as stimulants are written under authority, and the repeats will be held by your pharmacy. Prescriptions need to be given to the pharmacy where all the repeats will be dispensed from. Prescriptions cannot be re-written if the pharmacy needs to be changed.

Authority prescriptions are only valid for six months. Pharmacies will not issue medication on a prescription, even if there are repeats left, if more than six months have passed since the original date of issue.

Prescriptions are not usually issued without an appointment.

If an appointment has been cancelled and has been rescheduled, but the patient will run out of medication before the rescheduled appointment, a single prescription without any repeats can be issued to tie the patient over until the rescheduled appointment. If the cancellation is on the fault of the patient or their family (e.g., they did not attend/rescheduled) this should attract a prescription fee of $40. If the cancellation is on the fault of the organisation (e.g., the doctor was unwell) then no fee should be charged. Ultimately, it is down to the discretion of the individual doctor as to whether a fee should be charged for the prescription.

If an authority prescription is lost prior to it being given to a pharmacy, then the family member/carer will need to provide a statutory declaration stating that they have lost the prescription, prior to any further prescriptions being issued. This will attract a prescription fee of $40.

If a non-authority prescription is lost or has run out prior to the next appointment, then the family/carer should go to the patient’s general practitioner (GP) who will be able to provide the prescription.

If a parent/carer feels that a medication dose needs to be altered, this needs to be discussed directly with the prescribing doctor in an appointment. The parent/carer should call to organise either a face-to-face or telephone appointment to discuss the dose alteration with their doctor prior to any new scripts being issued.

If a prescription is written outside of a face-to-face consultation, then the prescription will be left at the reception for the family or carer to pick up. Authority prescriptions cannot be sent by email or posted to individuals. We do not routinely fax or email prescriptions to pharmacies. The only times we would fax or email a prescription to a pharmacy is if the patient lives outside of the Newcastle area or if there are extenuating circumstances.

If a prescription has been agreed to be faxed or emailed to a pharmacy, it is the families/carers responsibility to provide us with the pharmacy name, address, and email or fax number.

• No Show/Cancellation Policy Hunter Children’s Clinics Pty Ltd

This policy will be reviewed regularly to ensure it reflects the current processes and procedures of the organisation and current legislation requirements.

Date of approval: 31st August 2022

Date of review: 31st August 2023