WORRY ON DRUG "SHOPPERS"

"Doctor shopping' is costing the Tasmanian health system millions of
dollars every year, according to State pharmacists.

Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania branch president Jerry Hampton
said yesterday that doctor shopping, in which people go from doctor to
doctor for potent prescription drugs such as pethidine and morphine,
was quite prevalent in Tasmania.

Between 4 and 6 per cent of the population indulged in the
practice.

Mr Hampton said that a nation-wide trial involving 15 Tasmanian
pharmacies, which used computer registration of drugs dispensed to
give real-time data on who was presenting prescriptions for drugs of
concern in doctor shopping, had been very successful.

The branch had submitted a proposal to the State Government seeking
the establishment of a health intranet, on which information would be
exchanged between doctors, pharmacists and other health
professionals.

"If you can prevent a single death by preventing doctor shopping, it's
worthwhile," he said.

"Having a health intranet, while maintaining degrees of privacy, ...
will lead to the early detection of narcotic use and abuse and
minimise doctor shopping. The benefits and the cost savings to the
community would be enormous."

A government spokesman said yesterday that the Government was in
regular contact on the issue with medical bodies including the guild,
the Australian Medical Association and the College of General
Practitioners, as well as individual GPs.

"Doctor shopping is an ongoing problem, but the Government is
continuing the process of the previous Government, and that is to have
ongoing discussions with medical and health organisations as well as
individual general practitioners," the spokesman said.

Opposition health spokesman Frank Madill said that Tasmania needed to
develop a strategy to reduce so-called doctor shopping.

He said the present system that was used to pick up problems did not
offer real-time data because it only relied on public servants in the
Health Insurance Commission analysing returns from pharmacists that
might be weeks old.

"I believe the State Government should draw together pharmacists,
medical practitioners and other concerned groups to develop a strategy
to deal with this issue," he said.