The following substances must not be supplied by a pharmacist unless the approval reference number is shown on the prescription (in accordance with clause 90 of the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008):
Note: An 'approval' is a reference to an authority under the Poisons and Therapeutic goods Act 1966. An approval issued to a prescriber by the NSW Ministry of Health is separate to an authority required from Services Australia for a patient to receive a PBS subsidised medicine.
A medical practitioner may only prescribe a psychostimulant medicine with the prior approval of the NSW Ministry of Health.
All prescriptions written for dexamfetamine, lisdexamfetamine, or methylphenidate presented for dispensing must be endorsed with one of the following:
Note: Prescriptions endorsed with reference number “CNS" or “S28c" will remain valid for dispensing, unless expired or cancelled. For more information see Authority(CNS or S28c) to prescribe or supply psychostimulant medicines.
The prescriber is required to include an approval reference number on the prescription. An exemption applies when prescribing to hospital inpatients (see below).
A medical practitioner may prescribe a psychostimulant medicine on behalf of an authorised prescriber temporarily unavailable in the same practice.
In a hospital, an exemption to obtaining a NSW Health authority applies for the prescribing (either on a prescription or on a medication chart) of any registered Schedule 8 medication to an inpatient for a period of up to 14 days following admission, if the medication is being initiated in the hospital.
Following this 14 day period the prescriber must hold or obtain the necessary authority from Pharmaceutical Services Unit in the particular circumstance as detailed above to provide for the continuing treatment of the patient with the Schedule 8 medication and endorse the prescription as above.
In a hospital, an exemption to obtaining a NSW Health authority also applies for the prescribing of any Schedule 8 medicine for a hospital inpatient who was, immediately prior to his/her admission, being treated with that medicine under a NSW authority.
If a prescription is written under one of these exemptions, there will be no authority number shown on the prescription. When the authority number is not shown on a prescription for a Schedule 8 psychostimulant, a pharmacist must confirm with the prescriber that the prescription has been written under this exemption, and should make and keep a note of the advice from the prescriber. If not written under this exemption, a pharmacist cannot dispense a prescription for a Schedule 8 psychostimulant unless the prescription includes the authority number.
