The family of a Dunedin man who overdosed and died after he was wrongly identified and given someone else's methadone are pleased new guidelines are likely to require pharmacists to confirm a client's identity by photo before dispensing methadone.
Donna Letham, the mother of Christopher Wilson (26), said it had been a long battle to be heard.
In May, she and Christopher's father, Michael Wilson, and sister, Philippa Wilson, called for a national protocol for identifying methadone patients using photographs to be put in place in pharmacies before the system failed someone else.
"[This change] is all we wanted. Thank God someone has finally listened to the little people. This is wonderful," Mrs Letham said.
A review of the Ministry of Health's practice guidelines for opioid substitution treatment in New Zealand is expected to result in the rewording of the section on verifying clients' identities as a result of issues Mr Wilson's family raised with the National Association of Opioid Treatment Providers earlier this year.
In a letter to the family, the president of the association, which plays a major role both in the guidelines' development and in their implementation, said that after the family wrote to the association and it had consulted the wider organisations involved in opioid substitution treatment, its members agreed to reword the criteria for dispensing at community pharmacies.
The new criteria would include the requirement that pharmacists must positively identify the client by checking the most recent photograph, provided by the prescriber, and if necessary request identification.
The work was part of a review of the present guidelines, published in 2003.
The revised guidelines, which will also contain other changes, are expected to be published by the Ministry of Health in late September.
Mr Wilson died of an overdose in March 2006 after he was mistaken for another methadone client at a Dunedin pharmacy and given that man's takeaway dose.
Subsequent investigations by the police, the coroner and the pharmacy council exonerated the pharmacist and the pharmacy owner, who is responsible for ensuring standard operating procedures are kept up to date and followed by pharmacy staff.
An investigation by the Health and Disability commissioner found the pharmacy owner breached Mr Wilson's rights to have services provided with reasonable care and skill.
However, he has not been censured by his own industry.
The present guidelines require pharmacists to sight photographic identification only if the person is not known to the pharmacist.
Mrs Letham said that while it was too late for her son, "this may save someone else's life. If it does, the fight wasn't in vain."
Community Alcohol and Drug Service medical director Gavin Cape welcomed the change and said while the guidelines were not mandatory, pharmacists adhered to them because they were a safety net.
