Wales follows rest of UK with independent prescribing

Pharmacists and nurses are to be allowed to prescribe certain drugs in Wales, following similar plans that are to be introduced in England and Scotland.

Pharmacists will be able to prescribe licensed medicines with the exception of controlled drugs, allowing patients to obtain treatment earlier and those with chronic diseases such as diabetes and coronary heart disease to be supported in managing their conditions

Welsh health minister Dr Brian Gibbons said: “Independent prescribing will mean that suitably qualified nurses and pharmacists will not only be able to offer advice on health promotion and management of chronic conditions but also be able to prescribe independently for their patients in hospital and community settings.

“This is an important change to the way we deliver healthcare services and will build on the foundations already in place where nurse and pharmacist supplementary prescribers are already running for example diabetes and coronary heart disease clinics.”

David Pruce, director of practice and quality improvement at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, speaking on BBC Radio Four’s You and Yours described how the change could lead to GP surgeries appearing in pharmacists.

He said: “You often get pharmacies within health centres so there’s nothing to stop it going the other way. It would depend very much on what the market wants and that’s one idea amongst many that are being floated.”

John D’Arcy, chief executive of the National Pharmacy Association, said on the same programme: “Pharmacy as a profession has been frustrated for years.

“The training they get equips them with a much broader healthcare training than has been recognised in practice, so we welcome the idea of putting those skills into practice.”

“So what pharmacies will be doing, they’ll be the healthcare centre on the high street. People can go in, yes they can get access to their medicines either on prescription over the counter, but they can also pick up on a range of other services, diagnostic services, testing services, sexual health services, drug misuse, the list goes on.”

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