Victorian GPs have been reassured that they can continue to prescribe Schedule 8 drugs for longer than eight weeks without a written permit as long as they have taken steps to apply for one.

Pulse+IT has been told there is a great deal of disquiet amongst Victorian GPs over the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) permit system, which appears to be suffering from a backlog in applications that has in one instance seen a permit arrive after the patient had ceased treatment.