Victoria to monitor prescription drug use

A new system will monitor patient use of prescription drugs in Victoria in a bid to reduce growing harms.

Patient use of prescription drugs such as codeine will be monitored under an Australian-first monitoring system to be soon rolled out in Victoria.

Laws effective from July 2 will allow the data to be collected so doctors, nurses and pharmacists have up-to-the-minute information on patient prescription histories when the SafeScript monitoring system is in force later this year.

"Too many Victorians have died from the misuse of prescription medicines. This is an avoidable tragedy and that's why we're getting SafeScript done to fix it," Health Minister Jill Hennessy said.