The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 278 No 7437 p121
3 February 2007

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DoH withdraws free BNF funding for medical students

Medical students will no longer receive a free copy of the British National Formulary after the Department of Health decided to remove the funding that has made this possible for around the past eight years.

The British Medical Association has condemned the decision, arguing that the BNF is a vital educational resource and that the decision appears to undermine an earlier DoH commitment to prioritise its investment in prescribing advice and to place the BNF as one of its highest priorities for investment in 2006–07.

Commenting on the decision, a DoH spokeswoman said: “The BNF has been funded by the DoH as part of the multi-professional education and training (MPET) levy in the past. However, this was somewhat of an historic anomaly, of little benefit to student welfare and costly to administer, it was therefore decided that the BNF would no longer be funded by the DoH. This brings medical students into line with all the other students funded by MPET.”