Cantabrians receiving Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST) will soon be receiving improved care following a recently approved project to strengthen collaboration between community pharmacists and Canterbury Opioid Recovery Service (CORS) to reduce administration, so more time can be spent helping clients. 

The project was endorsed in October by the Alliance Leadership Team and will be rolled out across Canterbury over the next nine months. 

The main change to the service is a new electronic platform to manage the administration and dispensing of medications to OST clients rather than the paper-based approach which was time-consuming for clinicians. 

Community Pharmacist and Alliance Leadership Team Deputy Chair Simon Church (pictured), says opioid dependence is a complex condition and clients need care 365 days of the year, so it is vitally important we have a service where people feel well supported and are given the opportunity to recover their health and wellbeing. 

“There are nearly 1000 people receiving OST in Canterbury, and this new electronic system frees up clinician’s time, so they can spend more time interacting with their clients,” says Simon. 

“The electronic platform, which is delivered by Medi-Map, improves communication as it provides one source of truth and allows pharmacists and CORS to streamline communication freeing up more time for caseworkers and pharmacist to provide care for this vulnerable population.”

Some clients, who are already using the new service have noticed more interaction with their pharmacist about their wellbeing and less time wasted in the pharmacy due to prescription issues. 

Pharmacists had noticed they were having more meaningful engagement with the CORS team about shared clients who may need more support. 

“The ultimate goal is to help clients have more autonomy over their therapy, so they can work and interact with their whānau and friends.” 

The project is being led by the Pharmacy Service Level Alliance (PSLA) with project support provided by the Canterbury Community Pharmacy Group (CCPG).