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Allergy Today: FundaPen UpdateFundaPen™ finishes after 2,875 New Zealanders receive Free EpiPen®31 July 2020 FundaPen™ - a national success! Thanks to the $300,000 donation from Pub Charity last year, a total of 2875 free Epipens® have been distributed across New Zealand. The last Fundapen™ provided by this donation was distributed at the end of July - just 9 months after the initiative launched. Special thanks also goes to the thousands of General Practice teams, Clinicians, Health Professionals and AllergyPharmacy.co.nz who supported this unique opportunity. Moving forward, normal prescriber protocols will apply and patients will be required to pay for their own Epipens®. From our Allergy Today Summer E-newsletter issue ... In mid-November, Allergy New Zealand launched the FundaPen™ Initiative, to assist families struggling to afford EpiPen® auto injectors for their children. Details of the FundaPen™ Initiative were outlined in our Allergy Today November e-newsletter here and through social and other media. Setting the initiative up was a complex process including the need to meet regulatory requirements for prescribed and restricted medicines. As funding is a fixed amount ($300,000), Allergy NZ has chosen to offer this unique opportunity to children and young people in communities where access to services and support is often limited. In discussion with PHO (Primary Healthcare Organisations) representatives and GPs, it was agreed the most straightforward way was to base criteria on data easily available to GPs. Aside from the age (under 18 years) any one of the following eligibility criteria can qualify your child – Māori or Pasifika or Quintile 5 or that the family or child has a Community Services Card*. Information was sent out to GPs nationally via their PHOs in early November, and again in early December. We have then been reliant on PHOs to forward it on to their members who are your local GPs. Unfortunately, the FundaPen™ information has not been shared as quickly with GP practices as we had hoped. We appreciate this is frustrating for families and health professionals alike. For families whose child needs an EpiPen® and is eligible for a free one, we recommend you contact your GP clinic and ask if they are aware of the FundaPen™ Initiative. If so, make an appointment for your child to have their Anaphylaxis Action Plan reviewed and a FundaPen™ prescription processed.
If the GP clinic is not aware of the FundaPen™ Initiative, please show them this information and/or ask them to contact Allergy New Zealand on allergy@allergy.org.nz Allergy New Zealand, January 2020 *This data is accessible to all GPs and they will be able to confirm whether your child is eligible for a free EpiPen® adrenaline auto-injector provided by the FundaPen™ initiative. |