Priority populations
Providing necessary medications to sick residents in aged care homes can be especially challenging during the night, on weekends or at other times when pharmacies are closed.
Residents who develop a fever or experience illness-related pain after-hours often have to be transferred to a hospital emergency department – an experience which can be lengthy and traumatising.
To address this issue, North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network is proposing to fund a selected number of residential aged care homes (RACHs) to safely stock and dispense medications – including schedule 8 opioids – for use after hours.
Stocks of medications stored on premises are known as ‘imprest systems’. NWMPHN has partnered with the North and West Metropolitan Region Palliative Care Consortium (NWMRPCC) to support and fund 10 RACHs to purchase and implement an imprest system.
The funding is $5000 for each RACH, excluding GST, and covers the installation of secure storage, the initial stock of medications, monthly support visits and 2 communities of practice provided by NWMPHN and NWMRPCC.
Interested RACH operators are invited to submit an EOI for this project. Applications close on 18 January 2024 at 5pm AEDT. For full details please download the EOI (.docx).
