Recent amendment activity

Live from the subscribed web feeds — a new entry appears here automatically whenever an updated version of any required Act or Regulation is published.

Published versionDate
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Required reference resources — current status

LegislationLatest versionWhat changedFeed
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Information on individual medicines

Ready access to the New Zealand Formulary and the New Zealand Formulary for Children, AND one of the listed references.

ResourceAccess
New Zealand Formulary (NZF)nzf.org.nz
New Zealand Formulary for Children (NZFC)nzfchildren.org.nz
AHFS (American Hospital Formulary Service) Drug Informationlink to be added
AusDIlink to be added
Lexi-Comp Drug Information Handbooklink to be added
MartindaleVia PSNZ membership (MedicinesComplete)

Clinical pharmacy and therapeutics

Ready access to one of the following.

ResourceAccess
Applied Therapeutics: The Clinical Use of Drugs (Koda-Kimble and Young’s)link to be added
Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics (Whittlesea & Hodson)link to be added
Pharmacotherapy: A Pathophysiologic Approach (DiPiro)link to be added
Pharmacotherapy Principles & Practice (Chisholm-Burns)link to be added
UpToDateuptodate.com
DynaMeddynamed.com (also via PSNZ membership)

Drug interactions

Ready access to one of the following.

ResourceAccess
AusDIlink to be added
Drug Interaction Facts — The Authority on Drug Interactions (Tatro)link to be added
Micromedex Complete Drug Interactionslink to be added
Stockley’s Drug InteractionsFree — Health NZ Primary Care library

Standards, codes and guidelines

The audit's second reference category — ready access to the current version of each. Links go to the issuing body's own page for the document, which always holds the current version.

ResourceIssuing body
NZS 8134.7 Health and Disability Services (Pharmacy Services) Standard Standards New Zealand
Pharmacy Council Code of Ethics PDF Pharmacy Council of New Zealand
Health Information Privacy Code PDF Office of the Privacy Commissioner
Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights Health and Disability Commissioner
New Zealand Practice Guidelines for Opioid Substitution Treatment 2025 PDF Ministry of Health — Manatū Hauora

Drugs in pregnancy and breast feeding

Ready access to one of the following.

ResourceAccess
AusDIlink to be added
Drugs During Pregnancy and Lactation (Schaefer)link to be added
Drugs in Pregnancy and Lactation (Briggs)Free — Health NZ Primary Care library
Pregnancy and Breastfeeding Medicines Guide (PBMG, The Royal Women’s Hospital, Victoria, Australia)link to be added

Over the counter medicines

Ready access to the current version of the following.

ResourceAccess
Healthcare Handbook (Pharmacy Today)Pharmacy Today subscription (pharmacy group login)

Herbal medicines

Ready access to one of the following.

ResourceAccess
Herbal Medicines (Pharmaceutical Press Editorial)Via PSNZ membership (MedicinesComplete)
Herbs & Natural Supplements: an evidence-based guide, Vol 1&2, 4th Edition or later (Braun et al)link to be added
Micromedex In Depth Alternative Medicinelink to be added
Natural Medicines (TRC Healthcare)link to be added

Vaccination services

Applicable as the pharmacy provides vaccination services. Both storage standards documents are held on Health New Zealand's cold chain standards page.

ResourceIssuing body
National Standards for Vaccine Storage and Transportation for Immunisation Providers 2017 PDF Health New Zealand — Te Whatu Ora
2021 Addendum to National Standards for Vaccine Storage and Transportation Providers (COVID-19) PDF Health New Zealand — Te Whatu Ora
Immunisation Handbook (current edition) PDF Health New Zealand — Te Whatu Ora

Additional reference resources

References relevant to the specific pharmacy services provided from the premises.

ResourceWhere held
Protocol for the Dispensing of Clozapine by Community Pharmacies PDF (from Health NZ community pharmacy service documents) Health New Zealand — Te Whatu Ora (ICPSA service document)

How this satisfies the audit requirement

The Medicines Control audit requires ready access to the current version of the listed legislation on the New Zealand Legislation website, and “an appropriate mechanism … for keeping up to date with amendments to the above legislation”, which can be achieved by subscribing to an RSS web feed. This page is that subscription: it is subscribed to the official document-version web feed for each required title on legislation.govt.nz, refreshes automatically every hour, and displays new amendment activity above without any further software. Each table row links directly to the current consolidated version of the legislation.

The same subscription is also republished as a standard Atom feed for any feed reader, if ever wanted: /feed.xml