Paramedics will be given the authority to prescribe medicines, enabling more patients to be treated in the community and helping reduce pressure on emergency departments, Health Minister Simeon Brown says.<\/p>\n
\u201cParamedics are highly skilled health professionals who provide care in emergency situations and some of the most challenging circumstances,\u201d Mr Brown says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile paramedics are best known for their work in ambulances and rescue helicopters, they are increasingly delivering care in people\u2019s homes, aged residential care settings, and communities with limited access to healthcare.<\/p>\n
“Currently, paramedics rely on standing orders from authorised prescribers, meaning they can administer certain medicines but cannot prescribe them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach is inflexible, creates unnecessary administrative burden, and no longer reflects the modern role paramedics play in delivering patient care.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re making changes to enable paramedics to become designated prescribers under the Medicines Act 1981.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving paramedics the ability to prescribe medicines will enable them to provide more complete care when it is clinically appropriate, rather than transferring patients elsewhere, such as an emergency department, solely to obtain a prescription. This will be particularly beneficial for people living in rural and remote areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnder the changes, suitably qualified paramedics will be able to prescribe from a specified list of medicines within their scope of practice, allowing patients to access treatment sooner and experience better continuity of care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Training programmes will be established to support paramedics in gaining the necessary prescribing qualifications.<\/p>\n
Mr Brown says the change is part of the Government\u2019s broader focus on making better use of New Zealand\u2019s skilled health workforce to improve access to healthcare.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese changes will help reduce pressure on emergency departments and hospitals, support more care in the community, and ensure patients receive the treatment they need sooner.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are focused on building the future of our healthcare system, and enabling paramedics to prescribe medicines is an important part of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Note to editors:<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Health is now consulting on the list of prescription medicines that paramedic prescribers may be authorised to prescribe. This could include:<\/p>\n
Medicines for common infections or minor conditions (e.g. respiratory or ear infections)
\nRoutine or repeat medications for common conditions (e.g. pain relief, asthma inhalers, diabetes medicines)
\nMedicines needed in urgent or community care settings
\nThe list may also include some medicines that are controlled drugs. If these are included, amendments would be required under the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 1977.<\/p>\n
The Ministry is also working to finalise the regulations that will be needed to authorise paramedics as prescribers.
\nThe Paramedic Council will also begin its work to design a new scope of practice for paramedic prescribers, along with education and training requirements. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Paramedics will be given the authority to prescribe med […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":3093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_10164628679967220_110360201440802":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5189","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5238,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=5238","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":0},"title":"Pharmac listens to feedback, and will fund ambulance medicines","author":"","date":"09\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Associate Health Minister with responsibility for \u2026","rel":"","context":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","block_context":{"text":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SNyaVCNZZf-e1777865245464.jpg?fit=245%2C217&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5756,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=5756","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":1},"title":"Funding boost for community pharmacies","author":"","date":"20\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Community pharmacies will receive a funding boost \u2026","rel":"","context":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","block_context":{"text":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SNyaVCNZZf-e1777865245464.jpg?fit=245%2C217&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6314,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=6314","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":2},"title":"💊 Pharmac\u6269\u5927\u9ad8\u80c6\u56fa\u9187\u836f\u7269Rosuvastatin\u4f7f\u7528\u8303\u56f4\uff08\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u533b\u4fdd\u6539\u9769\uff09","author":"\u7f16\u8f91\u90e8","date":"30\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u836f\u54c1\u7ba1\u7406\u673a\u6784 Pharmac \u5ba3\u5e03\uff0c\u5c06\u4ece2026\u5e7410\u67081\u65e5\u8d77\u5168\u9762\u653e\u5bbd Rosuvastati\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u5728\u201c\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51\u201d\u4e2d","block_context":{"text":"\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51","link":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/headshot_David-Seymour_2.jpg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5609,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=5609","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":3},"title":"New acute care and cancer treatment services for Dargaville","author":"\u7f16\u8f91\u90e8","date":"16\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Dargaville residents now have better access to hea\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","block_context":{"text":"\u7c7b\u4f3c\u6587\u7ae0","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SNyaVCNZZf-e1777865245464.jpg?fit=245%2C217&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6067,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=6067","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":4},"title":"\u653f\u5e9c\u5bf9Pharmac\u836f\u623f\u8bbe\u5b9a2026\u5e74\u65b0\u8981\u6c42\uff1a\u7ee7\u7eed\u63d0\u5347\u836f\u54c1\u53ef\u53ca\u6027\u4e0e\u6548\u7387","author":"\u7f16\u8f91\u90e8","date":"27\/06\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u526f\u536b\u751f\u90e8\u957f\u5927\u536b\u00b7\u897f\u6469\uff08David Seymour\uff09\u4eca\u65e5\u5ba3\u5e03\uff0c\u5bf9\u56fd\u5bb6\u836f\u54c1\u91c7\u8d2d\u673a\u6784Pharmac\u63d0\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u5728\u201c\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51\u201d\u4e2d","block_context":{"text":"\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51","link":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/headshot_David-Seymour_2.jpg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6388,"url":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?p=6388","url_meta":{"origin":5189,"position":5},"title":"\u60a3\u8005\u6210\u4e3a\u533b\u7597\u7cfb\u7edf\u6838\u5fc3\uff1a\u65b0\u6cd5\u901a\u8fc7\u5f3a\u5316\u95ee\u8d23\u4e0e\u6548\u7387","author":"\u7f16\u8f91\u90e8","date":"02\/07\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u8c03\u4ee5\u60a3\u8005\u4e3a\u4e2d\u5fc3\u7684\u533b\u7597\u4f53\u7cfb\u6539\u9769\u3002\u8be5\u6cd5\u6848\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5065\u5eb7\u672a\u6765\uff08Pae Ora\uff09\u4fee\u6b63\u6cd5\u6848\uff08Healthy Fut\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u5728\u201c\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51\u201d\u4e2d","block_context":{"text":"\u65b0\u897f\u5170\u534e\u4eba\u6bcf\u65e5\u8d44\u8baf\u7f51","link":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/?cat=26"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Brown.jpg?fit=320%2C320&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/SNyaVCNZZf-e1777865245464.jpg?fit=245%2C217&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5189","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5189"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5189\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5189"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5189"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nzchinesedailynews.co.nz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5189"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}