Doctors and aged care home staff have received a reprieve from new electronic prescribing rules after the Federal Government extended its deadline for the second time.

Without the extension, many aged care homes would have had to use paper charts or different prescription software from December while waiting for their usual software provider to meet new standards.

It follows a turbulent month in aged care, as several electronic National Residential Medication Chart (eNRMC) prescribing software vendors lost registration in September for failing to meet the milestones to comply with new software standards.

Now, the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing says it will give software vendors until 1 December to meet the requirements, and even if they do not, aged care providers will nonetheless be allowed to keep using the non-conformant software until the end of 2026.