As of September 2025, registered nurses will be allowed to prescribe medications, after undertaking a six-month course and clinical mentorship following three years’ experience.
This change comes in an effort to help relieve stress on hospitals which struggled to recover after COVID-19 and offers faster access to care with shorter wait times.
But, some are concerned with the reform, saying it could be too much responsibility for nurses who have been greenlighted to prescribe schedule 8 drugs such as fentanyl.
Image: Pexles- Polina Tankilevitch
Produced By: Ella Panazzolo
Featured In Story: Corrine Dunningham- Lecturer at Latrobe University and nurse practitioner , and Dr Michael Clements- Rural chair for the Royal Australian Collage of General Practitioners and associate professor
First aired on The Wire, Thursday 16 October 2025