Controlled Drug handwriting requirements end next week
Controlled Drugs regulations change |
Doctors will no longer have to hand-write prescriptions for Controlled Drugs from 14 November.
The Misuse of Drugs and the Misuse of Drugs (Supply to Addicts) (Amendment)
Regulations 2005, which come into effect on that date, revoke the long-standing
requirement that prescriptions for CDs be handwritten. They also introduce
the possibility of keeping records of CD supplies electronically, rather
than only in a bound book or register.
Electronic registers will have to be in a form that complies with practice
guidance issued by the Secretary of State for Health. However, this guidance
has still to be issued, so electronic registers are not yet allowed.
Other changes introduced by the Regulations are to exempt ascorbic acid
from the prohibition on supplying articles for the administration or
preparation of CDs and amendments to the definition of extended formulary
nurse prescribers authorised to prescribe certain CDs.
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society has produced guidance
on the new Regulations (see p617). |
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