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Schedule 8 medicine reporting

Pharmacists are required to keep clinical records of all prescriptions dispensed and prescription medicines supplied. For Schedule 8 records, these must be provided in an approved form and manner to the Department of Health.

When to record

An individual record of what was dispensed on each occasion must be kept in the patient clinical record. In a pharmacy, the clinical record will be the prescription records on the dispensing software system.

What to record

For each Schedule 8 medicine dispensed, the pharmacist must record the following information in the clinical record:

name, quantity, strength and form of the medicine supplied
address of the person treated (or name and address of the owner of the animal treated)
date of supply
prescription reference number
original date prescription was issued
date of birth of the patient; and
name and address of the prescriber.

For Schedule 8 medicines not suppled on a prescription, an equivalent record must be made of each occasion of supply. This includes doctor’s bag supplies, supplies to ships and vessels, aged care facilities or any other similar supply. The information to be recorded includes:

name, quantity, strength and form of the medicine supplied
name address of the person ordering and receiving the medicines
date of supply; and
identifying number of any request document.

Reporting to the Department

Every pharmacy in Western Australia must provide information to the Department of Health on supply of Schedule 8 medicines. This must include all dispensed items, doctor’s bag items, CPOP summaries, etc.

From September 2021, Schedule 8 transactions recorded in dispensing software at community pharmacies will be automatically transmitted to the National Data Exchange (NDE) via a Prescription Exchange Service (PES). Monthly reports will still be required where pharmacy software is not linked to the NDE, such as public hospital pharmacy departments or where other types of dosing or supply records are kept, such as for the Community Program for Opioid Pharmacotherapy (CPOP).

Item	Form	Manner	Times
1. Prescriptions dispensed at registered pharmacies.	Dispensing system records of dispensed S8 prescriptions and supplies of S8 medicines e.g. doctor’s bag.	Electronic submission to National Data Exchange via PES and data source entity.	At the time the dispensing or supply is recorded in the dispensing software application.
2. Prescriptions dispensed at locations other than registered pharmacies, including public hospitals.	All dispensing records of S8 prescriptions for the calendar month. Electronic flat file structure.	Email to MPRB@health.wa.gov.au Or Fax to 9222 2463	At the end of each calendar month and before the 7th day of the following month.
3. CPOP dosing records for oral methadone and sublingual buprenorphine.	Report for each client receiving at least one dose during the calendar month, including last dose supplied, number of takeaways and number of missed doses. Approved electronic CPOP recording system or Microsoft Word® template from Department.	Email to MPRB@health.wa.gov.au Or Fax to 9222 2463	At the end of each calendar month and before the 7th day of the following month.
4. CPOP records of dispensed long-acting buprenorphine injections returned unused to the pharmacy.¹		Email to MPRB@health.wa.gov.au Or Fax to 9222 2463	At the end of each calendar month and before the 7th day of the following month.

¹Dispensing of long-acting buprenorphine injections will be submitted via dispensing software, in accordance with item 1.

Application to provide Schedule 8 transactions in an unapproved format

Pharmacies should complete an [Application to provide Schedule 8 transactions in an unapproved format (Word 76KB)] if they are not automatically transmitting S8 dispensing transactions to the National Data Exchange (NDE), via a prescription exchange service (PES). Any approval will be issued for a specified length of time, to enable the pharmacy to make arrangements with their software provider for the pharmacy’s S8 transactions to be transmitted to the NDE via a PES.

More information

Medicines and Poisons Regulation Branch
Mailing address: PO Box 8172, Perth Business Centre, WA 6849
Phone: 9222 6883
Email: MPRB@health.wa.gov.au

Last reviewed: 13-07-2022