State and territory health ministers have agreed to provide an update on progress towards the implementation of the Electronic Recording and Reporting of Controlled Drugs (ERRCD) real-time prescription monitoring system at a meeting of their advisory council in December.

It has been more than four years since a national approach to doctor shopping for prescription opioids and other drugs of addiction was first announced, but as Pulse+IT reported earlier this year, each jurisdiction had taken a different approach to the roll-out of ERRCD and some are understood to have been agitating for more money from the federal government before proceeding.