UK govt consultation on Rx reform

The UK government has announced the launch of two consultations for measures that are designed to make patient access to pain relief medications easier. Under the first proposal, initiated by the Home Office, nursing staff and pharmacists would have increased powers to prescribe controlled drugs for pain relief. The second, organized by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) relates to the supply or administration of morphine or diamorphine for the immediate necessary treatment of sick or injured persons, by nurses and pharmacists, under the Patient Group Directions.

In recent years, there has been a growing trend in the UK towards providing pharmacists and nurses with greater prescribing powers. Health Minister Lord Hunt said: "these proposals will make it easier for patients to get the medicines they need without compromizing safety. Enabling nurse and pharmacist prescribers to prescribe those controlled drugs they are competent to use, completes the changes we made last year and allows those highly-trained professionals to use their full range of skills to help their patients."

Peter Carter, the Royal College of Nursing's general secretary, said that "the RCN has been calling for these changes which will improve the care and service for patients, so this is a welcome move." He added that, in the previous year, nurses had written about 12,000 prescriptions for controlled drugs.