From Dr D. N. John, MRPharmS
SIR,—I write further to the notice included in a recent issue of the PJ (April 15, p570). It relates to a correction notice issued for the 39th edition of the British National Formulary concerning prescriptions for certain Controlled Drugs. The correction says:"The date should, of course, appear in the prescriber's handwriting." Concerning this particular prescription, the prescriber should have also hand-written the date, as a machine-printed date is not acceptable. To avoid any possible misunderstanding or ambiguity it is worth bringing the following information from the latest edition (number 23, January, 2000) of the 'Medicines, ethics and practice' guide to the attention of pharmacists. On p18, it states: "Under current regulations the date does not have to be handwritten; the prescriber may use a date stamp. The Home Office has expressed the view that a computer generated date is not acceptable."
Dai John
Welsh School of Pharmacy
Cardiff