The Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP) is encouraging Victorian GPs and nurse practitioners to sign up to training and further improve the healthcare they provide to patients experiencing opioid dependence.
RACGP Victoria regularly extends invitations to undertake this training, including face-to-face workshops and virtual online workshops. GPs and nurse practitioners can now sign up to new virtual training workshops facilitated by GP and addiction medicine expert, Dr Anne Saunders, starting next month. There is a severe shortage of doctors prescribing pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence, with the closure of the Frankston Healthcare Medical Centre placing further pressure on other service providers.
It comes in the wake of fresh warnings of the dangerous synthetic opioid nitazene, which is far stronger than fentanyl and hundreds of times more potent than heroin, being detected across Australia, including Melbourne. The drug has already taken one life in Queensland, and experts are warning many more will follow.
RACGP Victoria Chair, Dr Anita Muñoz, said the training was a key step towards helping more patients access life-saving healthcare at a vital time.
"With nitazenes being detected in Victoria, and health services offering pharmacotherapy for opioid dependence severely stretched, now is the perfect time to take up this training. I encourage GPs and nurse practitioners to sign up, further boost their skills, and save lives", she said.
"Pharmacotherapy, including buprenorphine and methadone, is gold-standard care recognised by the World Health Organisation as an essential treatment for people experiencing opioid dependence. It allows patients to replace their drug of dependence, such as heroin, codeine or oxycodone, with a legally prescribed substitute. It saves lives; however, Victoria only has a relatively small number of GPs offering prescriptions to thousands and thousands of patients in need."
Dr Muñoz called for greater action on alcohol and other drug healthcare.
"There's so much more work to be done," she said.
"We must ensure that all patients experiencing opioid dependence can access pharmacotherapy and not only boost awareness of naloxone, a medicine which temporarily reverses an opioid overdose, but also get it into the hands of people more likely to experience an overdose or witness one.
"Communities across Victoria and Australia also need more medically supervised injecting sites. The Victorian Government's decision to walk away from a second Melbourne site was disappointing, and I urge them again to reconsider. These services save lives – a KPMG report in 2020 found that the Kings Cross facility in Sydney had reversed nearly 11,000 overdoses without a single fatality and provided over 20,000 referrals to treatment and services."
Dr Saunders backed Dr Muñoz's calls.
"We must end the stigma around alcohol and other drug use, including opioid dependence," she said.
"That will be a key focus of the training I'm facilitating. There's an urgent need for skilled prescribers to deliver safe, evidence-based treatment, and this training offers the perfect pathway to build confidence in opioid dependence care.
"Every life is worth saving. Opioid dependence cuts across all segments of society; it doesn't happen to 'other people', it could be someone you love, such as a friend or family member. There's no point throwing the book at people and pretending that a 'War on Drugs' approach will work, we know it doesn't. For those people struggling to access care, I implore you to keep trying and know that the College is fighting for you. Your situation may seem beyond repair; but please remember that's not the case, people turn their lives around every day, and help is available."
The RACGP's Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Dependence (MATOD) training program offers the flexibility of online-only training or a hybrid model of online and face-to-face options. The program is a continuing professional development (CPD) approved activity.
