Prescription opioid rates ‘astonishing’

Several stakeholders have expressed concern about a newly documented rise in opioid use The Third Australian Atlas of Healthcare Variation, released on Tuesday, found that between 2013–14 and 2016–17 the rate of opioid medicines dispensing per 100,000 people increased by 5% nationally. The magnitude of variation in dispensing rates also increased, from 4.8-fold to 5.1‑fold.