Placements and Accreditation

Following completion of the OTAC, medical and nurse practitioners may be eligible to apply to be recognised in NSW as an accredited prescriber of opioid pharmacotherapies for the treatment of opioid dependence.

Clinical placements after completion of the OTAC should be undertaken in a COVID safe manner, and appropriate measures are undertaken to reduce the risk of transmission. COVID-safe requirements in place by the NSW Government, alongside any additional requirements determined by the workplace you attend, must be adhered to.

If you wish to seek accreditation, the below advice has been provided to assist you with your requirements prior to applying:

  • For medical practitioners working in a drug and alcohol setting, either currently or recently: Your clinic supervisor should complete the Clinical Placement Form as part of their usual reflective supervision practices with you (i.e., not a specific in-person placement, but more an assessment overall of your current practice). Generally, registrars in the addiction medicine setting should submit these forms no later than 12 months from completing the OTAC to be eligible.
  • For other prescribers (i.e., those not in a drug and alcohol setting): You should arrange a clinical placement with an appropriate supervisor, for a half-day (minimum 3 hour) session, where they assess you using the Clinical Placement Form. If you do not have a supervisor in mind, we can also provide you a list of suitable Clinical Placement Supervisors by contacting us. Note this list is not exhaustive and you can approach other potential supervisors.

Who can be a Clinical Placement Supervisor or Mentor?

As a general rule, any of the following medical practitioners are deemed appropriate supervisors:

  • Addiction medicine specialist
  • Addiction psychiatry specialist

Alternatively, an experienced prescriber of opioid agonist treatment (e.g., general practitioner specialist) that does not meet the above criteria may be appropriate as a supervisor. However, in this case we strongly suggest you contact us to confirm if they are appropriate before undertaking a placement.

Steps to Apply for Accreditation

Following completion of the OTAC, participants should undertake the following:

  1. Medical Practitioners in drug and alcohol settings should have their clinic supervisor complete the Clinical Placement Form as a general assessment. Other prescribers outside of drug and alcohol settings should complete a clinical placement and have their supervisor complete the Clinical Placement Form.
  2. Submit the following documents to the OPS Secretariat: moh-otp-accred@health.nsw.gov.au:

After accreditation, you will be sent a list to facilitate linkage with your Local Health District drug and alcohol service to ensure compliant clinical and administrative practice, and to provide support. We will also provide a follow-up in 2022 to assist with providing guidance to improve your OTP clinical practice, if required.

 

Once you have submitted your accreditation application, the Opioid Pharmacotherapy Subcommittee (OPS), NSW Ministry of Health will consider your application at a session approximately once every 6 weeks. To ensure your application is considered at the OPS  meeting, you must submit your application at least 10 days prior to the following committee dates:

Upcoming OPS Committee Dates 2022

    • Thursday, 16 June 2022
    • Thursday, 28 July 2022
    • Thursday, 15 September 2022
    • Thursday, 20 October 2022
    • Thursday, 1 December 2022

Once accredited, you will be sent a list to facilitate linkage with your Local Health District drug and alcohol service to ensure compliant clinical and administrative practice, and to provide support.