The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 268 No 7186 p233-237
23 February 2002

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Department of Health (www.doh.gov.uk)

Nurses to be allowed to prescribe nine antibiotics

Nurses are to be allowed to prescribe nine oral antibiotics for specified conditions in a major extension of prescribing rights for a specially trained section of the profession (PJ, 28 July 2001, p111).

An extended formulary from which nurses will be able to prescribe is to be introduced in April. The formulary will include amoxicillin, nitrofurantoin and trimethoprim (for lower urinary tract infections in women), flucloxacillin (impetigo), metronidazole (fungating malodorous tumours and bacterial vaginosis) and oxytetracycline, doxycycline, tetracycline and minocycline for acne. Gentamycin sulphate and neomycin sulphate and undecanoate will be prescribable by nurses to treat otitis externa.

Nurses will also be allowed to prescribe a further 126 products, including 26 vaccines.

Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn said: "Extending the list of treatments a nurse can prescribe is another important step along the road of expanding the roles and responsibilities of front line staff."

Sarah Mullally, the Department of Health's chief nursing officer, added: "Over the past few years, nurses and health visitors have demonstrated that they are safe, careful and professional prescribers. Monitoring has shown that their prescribing has largely substituted for general practitioner prescribing and early research also tells us that patients believe they benefit from their nurse's prescribing. It is time to look ahead, and make further changes to traditional prescribing roles that will benefit patients in a patient-centred NHS."

Presently, around 23,000 district nurses, health visitors and some practice nurses holding relevant qualifications have been trained to prescribe from the current Nurse Prescribers' Formulary.

Details are available from the Department of Health website.

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