Trials conducted at an aged care facility and Cavenagh Medical Centres in the Northern Territory received "very positive" feedback. Users said the technology sped up medication delivery and was easy to use. A further six month trial will be conducted in other aged care facilities.

ETP is another step towards a complete e-health architecture. The technology will continue to operate alongside paper-based prescriptions, until governments agree on an identification measure for patients to collect medications.

Antcliff said Medicare cards cannot be used because of privacy implications, but said the federal government is considering a Public Key Infrastructure token which would give patients a unique health identifier.

The project required significant changes to the Health Act, pertaining to Medicare and the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

ETP could be deployed nationally, Antcliff said, because it is built on the Health Level 7 (HL7) international standard for electronic health care. Most of Australia's 6000 pharmacies already adhere to the standard, and would need scant modification of their clinical information systems to accommodate ETP.

The platform's messaging technology was designed by Argus Connect, while the National E-Health Transition Authority (NETA) assisted with standardisation. ETP use the Genie clinical management system.