Endorsed registered nurses to prescribe PBS medicines

Designated registered nurses (RNs) will be able to collaboratively prescribe Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) medicines after ‘historic’ laws passed Federal Parliament.
 
The reform will be available to those who have completed postgraduate training as required by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia.
 
The first RNs have already been endorsed, to work predominantly in hospital settings, with others due to graduate this month.
 
Changes to PBS administrative systems required to support the new laws will be ready from 1 October 2026.
 
However, it is still being decided which medicines will be available for prescription, with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee considering the reforms.
 
RACGP President Dr Michael Wright told newsGP the changes follow ‘long consultation and proper consideration’.
 
‘We’ve got to make sure that all the safeguards for patients are in place, and to be able to monitor if things go wrong,’ he said.
 
‘With these safeguards, it certainly makes it much more acceptable than the rapid, non-evidence-based pharmacy prescribing changes.
 
‘We look forward to working with RNs to make sure that this is done safely and collaboratively.’
 
Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation Federal Secretary Annie Butler said the reform will ‘significantly improve access to equitable, timely and high‑quality care’.
 
‘This is an opportunity for GPs to discuss with their practice nurses what might their models be in the future and how much they want to embrace this,’ she told newsGP.
 
‘It’s a really great opportunity for GPs, where they’re in an environment where their practice nurses are keen and would like to take up this opportunity, for them to work with their practice nurses in partnership.
 
‘It’s taken us 10 years to work through the entire program because there are many steps involved and we’ve been really grateful for the consultation with the RACGP along the way.’
 
The scope expansion comes after state and federal health ministers signed off on changes in 2024 allowing trained RNs to prescribe Schedule 2, 3, 4 and 8 medicines in partnership with an authorised health practitioner.
 
This was followed in September 2025 by a new standard setting out how RNs can qualify to prescribe a range of medicines.
 
The RACGP has raised concerns about these changes in the past, specifically the prescribing of Schedule 8 medicines due to their increased complexity.
 
In a submission to a Parliamentary investigation into the changes, the RACGP continues to caution the ‘ongoing conflation of diagnosing and prescribing skills’.
 
‘We support designated registered nurse prescribers within a limited range of conditions, under a specific prescribing agreement and only in a team-based environment (medically supported),’ it said.
 
‘We do not support designated registered nurse prescribers of Schedule 8 medicines and recommend the legislation explicitly prohibit designated registered nurse prescribers prescribing of these medications.
 
‘We support enablement of the PSR to ensure the same oversight of designated registered nurse prescribers as per other kinds of PBS prescribers.’
 
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