Independent prescribing

Paramedics can now become independent prescribers

Advanced paramedic practitioners are now entitled to train to become independent prescribers across the UK, NHS England has announced.…

Q&A: Dame Sally Davies — protecting antibiotics for the future

Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer for England and chief medical advisor to the UK government, is well known for issuing stark warnings on the careless use of antibiotics.…

GPhC to consult on education and training of pharmacist independent prescribers

General Pharmaceutical Council will open consultation in March and proposes three key changes to education and training standards…

Non-adherence: medicine’s weakest link

Non-adherence to prescribed medicines is one of the biggest obstacles to effective healthcare, impacting on patients, healthcare professionals, pharmaceutical companies and healthcare systems. Pharmacists are ideally placed to improve adherence, but are effective interventions available and how can …

Community pharmacist independent prescribers can play key role in GP practices, pilot finds

Community pharmacist independent prescribers working in GP practices can offer a number of benefits to primary care teams, a report from the University of Nottingham has found…

Medical-school Prescribing Safety Assessment could be taken by pharmacists

Pharmacist prescribers are as competent as medical students when it comes to safe prescribing, pilot study shows.…

Changing prescriber supervision requirements will help more pharmacists become prescribers, says RPS

Responding to the General Pharmaceutical Council’s discussion paper, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society has advocated for an active pharmacist independent prescriber (IP) to be involved in supervising IPs in training to enable more pharmacists to become prescribers.…

Murray review calls for redesign of MURs and practical steps to establish national minor ailments scheme

Medicines use reviews (MURs) should be redesigned to include ongoing monitoring and regular patient follow-up, giving community pharmacists a much greater role in the management of patients with long-term conditions, according to a long-awaited review of community pharmacy services.…

Becoming a pharmacist in a GP practice – training and communicating

Regina Ahmed has decided to try a career in the primary care sector. In the third of a series of blog posts, she describes her training opportunities and building channels of communication with other healthcare colleagues.…

Same health outcomes for non-medical and medical prescribing

Non-medical prescribers, including pharmacists, are just as effective at prescribing medicines as medical prescribers, according to the results of a Cochrane Review published on 22 November 2016.…