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Is this the beginning of the end for supplementary prescribing?

Independent prescribing became legal on 1 May with pharmacists in England being allowed to prescribe any licensed medicine (except Controlled Drugs) without clinical management plans. With these new arrangements, do we still have to worry about supplementary prescribing? This was a question tackled by Matt Griffiths, joint prescribing adviser at the Royal College of Nursing, at a conference on non-medical prescribing, in London in May. His answer was that we do.

Supplementary prescribing will still offer “some real benefits”. For example, it is believed that supplementary prescribing, through improved concordance will increase compliance because patients are being more involved in their own care. Another reason to keep supplementary prescribing is because it may help new prescribers gain competence and confidence. “We should still encourage people to do this,” Mr Griffiths said. He predicted that supplementary prescribing will remain useful for patients with complicated conditions and for staff training to prescribe for new conditions. It is also worth noting that unless the legislation changes, pharmacist supplementary prescribers are able to prescribe unlicensed medicines and Controlled Drugs.

Mr Griffiths commented that non-medical prescribing will open up care but emphasised that patient safety is paramount. “We need to treat this responsibility with respect. Now we are able to prescribe the medicines that doctors are able to, we need to be accountable,” he said. One practice hazard raised was the custom in some surgeries of asking any prescriber to sign an “urgent prescription”.

Mr Griffiths’s advice to new prescribers is: “If you are not happy to prescribe or supply, then do not. Please hold back. Think about it. Build up your confidence and competence slowly and securely.”