Medication safety alerts and notices
Medication safety alerts and notices are issued in response to reported incidents or for medicines with known high risks. Medication safety alerts advise on action to prevent future adverse medicine events or to lessen the risk of such events.
Aims of alerts and notices
The aim of alerts is to:
- Warn healthcare professionals about serious known medication risks
- Outline the action required to minimise risks
- Provide tools to minimise risk.
Responsibility for alerts and notices
Each jurisdiction manages its own medication safety alerts and notices.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration is responsible for:
- Product recalls
- Hazard alerts.
The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NHSQHS) Medication Safety Standard requires health service organisations to regularly assess the use and misuse of high-risk medicines and implement evidence-based risk reduction strategies to ensure safe and appropriate storage, prescribing, dispensing and administration.
Alerts and notices resources
Health service organisations can refer to these two national medication safety alerts (developed by the former Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Health Care) for reference:
The Commission also makes available a range of high risk medicines safety alerts, notices and guidance issued by the Australian states and territories and by international organisations using the APINCHS classification. See High risk medicines resources.