Abstract
At the time of writing (June 2016), there are 51,964 pharmacists registered with the General Pharmaceutical Council. Of these, 3761 are also registered as independent prescribers with an additional 949 who are supplementary prescribers (Personal communication from GPhC Registration Department 2016). There are two ways of viewing this. One might say that the introduction of pharmacist prescribing has generated an additional four and a half thousand prescribers, or one might ask why, 14 years after the opening of prescribing to pharmacists, only 3.76% of pharmacists have trained as prescribers, despite the advantages of doing so. This chapter will look at the history and development of pharmacist prescribing, the barriers, which have militated against faster uptake, and the potential that the profession has if these issues can be successfully addressed.
The original version of this chapter was revised.
An erratum to this chapter can be found at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53324-7_13
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
References
Baqir W, Learoyd T, Sim A, Todd A (2011) Cost analysis of a community pharmacy ‘minor ailment scheme’ across three primary care trusts in the North East of England. J Public Health 33(4):551–555
Department of Health (1989) Report of the advisory group on nurse prescribing (Crown Report). The Stationery Office, London
Department of Health (1999) Review of prescribing, supply and administration of medicines. Final report. Stationery Office, London
Department of Health and Social Security (1986) Neighbourhood nursing—a focus for care (The Cumberlege Report). HMSO, London
Dowell J, Cruikshank J, Bain J et al (1998) Repeat dispensing by community pharmacists: advantages for patients and practitioners. Br J Gen Pract 48:1858–1859
Farrar K (2000) Hospital pharmacy: thinking the unthinkable. Pharm J Available via http://www.pharmaceutical-journal.com/in-depth/%20perspective-article/hospital-pharmacy-thinking-the-unthink-%20able/20000004.article. Accessed 13 June 2017
Hanlon JT, Samsa GP, Lewis IK, Landsman PB (1996) A randomised controlled trial of a clinical pharmacist intervention to improve inappropriate prescribing in elderly outpatients with polypharmacy. Am J Med 100:428–437
Hinchliffe A (2015) Pharmacist independent prescribing—a review of the evidence. Public Health Wales
Holmes W, Armstrong R, Oliver P (1985) The Cumberlege Report—another view. J R Coll Gen Pract 36(291):474–475
McCarthy A, O’Nolan G, Long J (2015) Minor ailments schemes: an overview of experience up to 2015, for the Health Research Board, for a review of schemes and evaluations in a number of countries. Available via http://www.hrb.ie/uploads/tx_hrbpublications/Minor_ailments_schemes_an_overview_of_experience_up_to_2015_01.pdf. Accessed 13 June 2017
Medicinal Products: Prescription by Nurses Act (1992) Available via http://www.uklaws.org/statutory/instruments_13/doc13024.htm. Accessed 21 Dec 2016
Parkin T (2016) Pharmacy must grasp new clinical opportunities with both hands. Clin Pharmacist 8(5). doi: 10.1211/CP.2016.20200979
Pharmaceutical Journal Editorial (2000) Pharmacist prescribing—one step closer. Pharm J 264(7088):p423
PSNC (2016) Available via http://psnc.org.uk/contract-it/the-pharmacy-%20contract/. Accessed 13 June 2017
Pumtong S, Boardman HF, Anderson CW (2011) A multi-method evaluation of the pharmacy first minor ailments scheme. Int J Clin Pharm 33(3):573–581
Sukkar E (2016) GP surgeries could employ an extra 1500 pharmacists with £112m investment. Pharm J 296(7888). doi: 10.1211/PJ.2016.20201055
Wagner A, Noyce PR, Ashcroft DM (2011) Changing patient consultation patterns in primary care: an investigation of uptake of the minor ailments Service in Scotland. Health Policy 99(1):44–51
WHO (1994) The role of the pharmacist in the health care system. Available via http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Jh2995e/. Accessed 21 Dec 2016
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Brack, G. (2017). Non-medical Prescribing by Pharmacists. In: Franklin, P. (eds) Non-medical Prescribing in the United Kingdom. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53324-7_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-53324-7_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-53323-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-53324-7
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)