SafeScript NSW is part of NSW Health’s commitment to reduce harm from monitored medicines and help save lives.
The prescribing and dispensing information in SafeScript NSW helps prescribers and pharmacists make safer clinical decisions about a patient’s care.
Healthcare providers have a role in providing accurate data in clinical systems to ensure there is a single patient record with reliable information on the prescribers, pharmacists and medicines used.
When prescribing or supplying Schedule 4 and 8 medicines, eHealth NSW asks you to:
- Validate the patient’s Individual Healthcare Identifier (IHI) in your clinical software: This will ensure the right information is associated to the right individual at the point of care. Incorrect or missing IHIs can result in the creation of duplicate patient profiles in SafeScript NSW, which can lead to potentially inaccurate diagnosis, inappropriate prescribing and medical errors.
What can I do to help?
Click the ‘Validate’ button within the IHI section of your patient’s record. The minimum information required is their surname, first name, date of birth, gender and Medicare/DVA number.
Where can I find further instruction on how to validate IHI?
Click on any of the following clinical software links to get specific instructions on how you can validate this information on your system:
- Ensure you record the patient’s date of birth in your practice software: Please ensure the patient’s date of birth is entered into your clinical system. This helps to ensure accurate information is stored in SafeScript NSW and avoids duplication of patient records.
- Ensure your details are up to date in your practice software: Having accurate contact information makes it easier for you to be contacted by other health practitioners to clarify and confirm the treatment approach when required. When dispensing, ensure the prescriber and pharmacist information is correct. The pharmacist’s name should be the dispensing pharmacist, not the technician or pharmacy assistant. This ensures patient records are correctly matched, providing a more accurate patient history and reducing duplicate records in the system.
- Ensure medicine information is entered correctly – When dispensing, avoid the free text entries where possible and record dosage and quantity information accurately. The SafeScript NSW alerts and notifications rely on this information being correct for it to accurately alert/notify prescribers and dispensers about any at-risk patients.
If you have any questions or would like to find out more, please email MOH-PharmaceuticalServices@health.nsw.gov.au, or email SafeScript@health.nsw.gov.au for more information about SafeScript NSW.