Start thinking now about independent prescribing issues
Pharmacy needs a wake up call to start thinking about independent prescribing fairly quickly, Clive Jackson, chief executive, National Prescribing Centre, told a practice session on primary care at the BPC.
Independent prescribing presents two key issues for the profession, Mr
Jackson said. First, pharmacy needs to look at its diagnostic skills
and second, it needs to look at the range of medicines that pharmacists
are likely to be allowed to prescribe independently. All the indications
are that the development of the independent prescribing policy will begin
in the new year but, bearing in mind all the consultation and other things
that development requires, we are unlikely to see even “a fair
wind” given to pharmacists prescribers until mid or late 2005.
Mr Jackson said. However, the profession needs to be proactive in policy
development, especially in “looking at what the options are for
pharmacists and where it could make a positive impact, rather than just
waiting for the Committee on Safety of Medicines, and a range of others,
to decide what options there are in terms of medicines that can be prescribed,” he
warned. |
