It is government policy to extend prescribing responsibilities to non-medical professions to:
- improve the quality of service to patients without compromising patient safety;
- make it easier for patients to get the medicines they need;
- increase patient choice in accessing medicines;
- make better use of the skills of health professionals;
- contribute to the introduction of more flexible team working across the NHS.
Independent prescribing aims to provide patients with quicker and more efficient access to medicines, and to make the best use of their skills, knowledge and expertise. Independent prescribing by other health care professionals will also allow doctors to make better use of their expertise.
The Scottish Executive expexts NHS Boards in Scotland to develop their strategic plan for the use of non-medical prescribing to include independent prescribing by nurses and pharmacists. Typically this would involve senior managers and clinicians (doctors, nurses, pharmacists) and the drug and therapeutics committee (or equivalent). The plan should be approved at Board level and would, for example:
- recognise the benefits to patients of non-medical prescribing;
- identify an initial range of clinical areas where patients could benefit;
- identify a way to support and sustain the transition of staff to
- extended roles and the services they currently provide;
- develop a communications plan aimed at informing both patients and all clinical and managerial staff;
- include timescales for implementation;
- identify a lead director to be responsible for implementation.