Today’s question relates to the destruction of schedule 8 drugs. My correspondent asks:

In NSW it is my impression from what I have been told by senior management and my own time reading various laws that the destruction of Schedule 8 drugs in an Aged Care facility must be done by a pharmacist and either the aged care manager or senior registered nurse onsite at the aged care facility.

Two questions I am trying to find answers to:

1. If Schedule 8 drugs are supplied from NSW and stored/secured in an Aged Care facility in Victoria (half the town is split by the border), Can this facility destroy Schedule 8 drugs without a pharmacist onsite?

2. Is it possible/Legal to send the schedule 8 drugs back to another pharmacy on the Victorian side to be destroyed?

New South Wales

The Poisons and Therapeutic Drugs Act 1966 (NSW) uses the term ‘Drugs of addiction’ to refer to drugs listed in schedule 8 of the poisons list (s 4).  Schedule 8 drugs must not be destroyed except in circumstances set out in the Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008 (NSW) (r 125). The regulations provide for destruction by:

  • A retail pharmacist (rr 125A and 126);
  • The authorised director of a public hospital (r 126A);
  • A pharmacist employed in a public hospital (r 127);
  • A retail pharmacist who is engaged in the supply of drugs of addiction to a private health facility, including a residential aged care facility (r 128); and
  • The management company for a managed correctional centre (r 128A).

In the context of today’s question, the relevant provision is r 128. That regulation says that a ‘retail pharmacist who is engaged in the supply of … drugs of addiction’ to a residential aged care facility can destroy unwanted schedule 8 drugs provided that the destruction occurs at the facility (r 128(1))) and in the presence of the licensee responsible for the storage of the drugs (r 128(3)(a)) or the director of nursing (r 128(3)(b)).

Victoria

In Victoria, schedule 8 drugs can be destroyed by, amongst others, a ‘nurse practitioner or an authorised midwife in the presence of another person who is a registered medical practitioner, pharmacist, veterinary practitioner, dentist, nurse or registered midwife’ (Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Regulations 2017 (Vic) r 115(2)(a)) or a ‘a registered medical practitioner, veterinary practitioner, dentist or pharmacist in the presence of another person who is a registered medical practitioner, pharmacist, veterinary practitioner, dentist, nurse or registered midwife’ (r 115(3)(a)).  Further ‘the unused contents of a previously sterile container containing a Schedule 8 poison … that are not required for administration to a patient’ may be destroyed ‘by a registered medical practitioner, pharmacist, veterinary practitioner, dentist, nurse or registered midwife’ (r 115(4)(a)).   In each case records prescribed by r 115 and r 108 must be completed to evidence the destruction and the people present.

Discussion

Where drugs are delivered to a Victorian facility from NSW, whether those drugs are supplied by a wholesaler or by a retail pharmacist and assuming they are legally supplied, then the law governing their destruction will be the law of Victoria.  What follows is that ‘If Schedule 8 drugs are supplied from NSW and stored/secured in an Aged Care facility in Victoria’ then the staff of that facility can destroy unwanted drugs in accordance with the Victorian regulation, and that regulation does not require that it be done in the presence of a pharmacist.  The fact that the drugs were supplied from NSW is irrelevant at this point.

It is legal to send the drugs (provided the person carrying the drugs is authorised to transport them) to a pharmacist in Victoria to destroy the drugs. As the regulation says the drugs need to be destroyed by one health practitioner in the presence of another but it does not say anything about where the destruction must take place.

Conclusion

The destruction of drugs in Victoria is governed by Victorian law. It does not matter that the drugs were supplied by a pharmacist or wholesaler in NSW.  The law in Victoria does not require that sch 8 drugs in a residential aged care facility are destroyed by a pharmacist on the site of the facility.

This blog is made possible with generous financial support from the Australasian College of Paramedicine, the Australian Paramedics Association (NSW), Natural Hazards Research Australia, NSW Rural Fire Service Association and the NSW SES Volunteers Association. I am responsible for the content in this post including any errors or omissions. Any opinions expressed are mine, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or understanding of the donors.