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Patients will now have quicker access to their medicines and more choice in how they obtain them, thanks to legislative changes to expand nurse prescribing and introduce pharmacist independent prescribing.

The changes, which come into force today, mean that qualified Nurse Independent Prescribers and Pharmacist Independent Prescribers will be able to prescribe any licensed medicine for any medical condition within their competence including, for nurses, some controlled drugs. 

Announcing the changes Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt said:

'Nurse and pharmacist independent prescribing is a major advance in improving accessibility of medicines to patients. It will be delivered by  highly skilled and well trained staff.

'Healthcare professionals are increasingly taking on new roles and responsibilities, enabling them to utilise their skills in the best possible way this is good news for patients and good news for healthcare professionals.'   

Explaining how the nursing profession has transformed over the past nine years, she continued:

'A salary of over £19,000 for a newly qualified nurse, backed by a range of HR initiatives including better childcare support and the Improving Working Lives strategy, has seen a 62% increase in the number of students that entered training in England for a first qualification as a nurse or midwife.'

Chief Nursing Officer Christine Beasley said:

'With the help of the RCN we have developed nursing roles, providing support for new 'advanced nursing' roles in all settings and employing 3000 modern matrons in England and more than 800 nurse consultants.

'We have a large number of nurses working in hospitals and delivering treatment in the community, all providing excellent care to patients and helping us to deliver improvements to the NHS.  The ability to comprehensively prescribe for their patients will further improve these services.

'Patients have told us that accessibility is a major advantage when obtaining their medicine from a nurse and we already have almost 7,000 Extended Formulary Nurse Prescribers highly trained to diagnose and prescribe for a wide range of medical conditions.'

Patient access to medicines is set to improve even further as pharmacists also make the move towards independent prescribing.

Dr Keith Ridge, recently appointed Chief Pharmaceutical Officer at the Department of Health, said:

'For pharmacists, this is the dawn of a new era. It will help transform the public's perception of pharmacy and enable pharmacists to strengthen the services they deliver to patients.

'Medicines are the most common treatment used in the care of patients and now that trained nurses and pharmacists as well as doctors can prescribe a full range, it will be much easier for patients to get the medicines they need, when they need them.

'This presents a real opportunity for doctors, nurses and pharmacists to use their clinical skills together, working with patients to improve care.'

Michael Dixon, Chair of the NHS Alliance, representing frontline healthcare professionals, said:

'The NHS Alliance strongly believes that frontline staff should be able to prescribe medicines according to their knowledge and abilities.  The days when highly skilled nurses had to wait outside a doctor's door for a signature on a prescription, when they themselves may be extremely knowledgable, should soon be over.'

Pharmacists will be able to prescribe independently both in hospitals and for the local community including from GP practices, for example controlling high blood pressure, smoking cessation, diabetes.

With their employers support, nurses and pharmacists will be able to undertake these roles once they have successfully completed a post-graduate prescribing training course accredited by their respective regulatory bodies and in addition to their undergraduate training.  These qualificationsmust also be noted on the professional register.   Once trained, they will be required to keep their skills up to date.