Renewing Special Authorities for Rheumatology Drugs 13 Oct 2022

In response to a helpful suggestion from one of our GPs, the Rheumatology Department has cut out the middle man (i.e. GPs) when it comes to renewing rheumatology drug SA numbers.

Community pharmacists can now contact the Rheumatology Department directly on rheumatologynurses@bopdhb.govt.nz The rheumatology department says ‘We will contact the patient formally, either through a CNS phone consult, or just by checking that the patient has been seen/ followed up sufficiently for us to renew SA.  We need to do this as audits on SA approvals do occur regularly, and therefore we need to document a virtual/ f2f FU within accepted guideline timeframes to comply with SA (audit) rules.’

Pharmacies have now been informed and provided with the email address above. No more need for GPs to be sending off letters to rheumatology asking for SA renewals!