What is SafeScript NSW?

SafeScript NSW is a real time prescription monitoring and approval management system. It allows prescribers and pharmacists to access real-time information about their patient's prescription history for certain high-risk medicines, known as monitored medicines, as well as offering an online solution for prescribers to manage applications for approvals to prescribe and/or supply these medicines. This information helps prescribers and pharmacists to make safer clinical decisions, improves compliance and reduces the incidence of harm, including death, from the unsafe use of monitored medicines.

The increasing harm from unsafe use of monitored medicines is a major public health concern. In 2021, there were 2,231 drug-induced deaths in Australia with 1,675 (75%) being unintentional. Of these deaths, 765 (34%) were due to opioids and 544 (24%) involved benzodiazepines. To learn more about these statistics, view the Penington Institute's Australia's Annual Overdose Report 2023.

SafeScript NSW is part of NSW Health's commitment to reduce harm from monitored medicines and help save lives.

SafeScript NSW is also used by Ministry of Health staff as part of their regulatory role in ensuring the safe supply of medicines in the community. The Pharmaceutical Services Unit applies a risk-based approach to its regulatory compliance activities, with graduated responses based on risk severity. More information about this approach is available on the Pharmaceutical Services Compliance Policy webpage.

How SafeScript NSW works

SafeScript NSW is a computer software system that provides prescribers and pharmacists with real-time information about a patient's prescription history for certain high-risk medicines, so they can make safer clinical decisions at the point of care.

The SafeScript NSW system collects prescribing and dispensing information about monitored medicines via the electronic prescription exchange services (PES) that are already connected to most prescribing and dispensing systems.

Using SafeScript NSW with integrated software

SafeScript NSW is designed to be integrated into clinical workflow when reviewing patient's prescribing and dispensing history. This enables prescribers or pharmacists who have registered for SafeScript NSW, and using integrated clinical software, to receive a pop-up notification on their desktop prescribing or dispensing system warning them when a high-risk scenario is detected within the database. These scenarios include:

multiple prescribers involved - where a patient has received prescriptions for monitored medicines from four or more prescribers within the last 90 days
use of high doses of opioids - where the average daily dose exceeds 100mg oral morphine equivalent over a 90 day period, excluding medicines used for opioid replacement therapy
concurrent prescribing of potentially harmful substances - for example certain long acting opioids (fentanyl and methadone) and benzodiazepines.

Prescribers and pharmacists can click on the notification to access the SafeScript NSW portal to view the patient's full monitored medicine history.

Once logged into SafeScript NSW, the prescriber can apply for an approval to prescribe and/or supply high risk medicines via SafeScript NSW.

Using SafeScript NSW without integrated software

Prescribers and pharmacists who are not using integrated software are still able to access SafeScript NSW to view their patient's monitored medicine and approval history by logging into the SafeScript NSW portal directly.