The Health and Personal Social Services (Amendments Relating to Prescribing by Nurses and Pharmacists etc.) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2003

Amendment of the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997

2.—(1) The Pharmaceutical Services Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1997 are amended as follows.

(2) In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) –

(a) insert each of the following definitions at the appropriate alphabetical place –

““independent nurse prescriber” means –

(a)

a person whose name is registered –

(i)

in Part 1 or 12 of the nurses and midwifes' professional register and has a district nurse qualification additionally recorded in the nurses and midwives' professional register pursuant to rule 11 of the Nurses, Midwives and Health Visitors Rules 1983(1), or

(ii)

in Part 11 of the nurses and midwives' professional register as a health visitor,

and against whose name is recorded in the nurses and midwives' professional register an annotation signifying that he is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances from the Nurse Prescribers' Formulary for District Nurses and Health Visitors in Part IXB of the Drug Tariff; or

(b)

a person –

(i)

whose name is registered in Parts 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 of the nurses and midwives' professional register, and

(ii)

against whose name is recorded in the nurses and midwives' professional register an annotation signifying that he is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances from the Nurse Prescribers' Extended Formulary in Part IXC of the Drug Tariff;”;

““nurses and midwives' professional register” means the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council pursuant to paragraph 10 of Schedule 2 to the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001(2);”; and

““supplementary prescriber” means a person whose name is registered in –

(a)

Parts 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 of the nurses and midwives' professional register;

(b)

the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists maintained in pursuance of section 2(1) of the Pharmacy Act 1954(3); or

(c)

the register maintained in pursuance of Articles 6 and 9 of the Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 1976(4),

and against whose name is recorded in the relevant register an annotation that he is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances as a supplementary prescriber;”;

(b) in the definition of “prescription form”, in sub-paragraph (c) for “a nurse prescriber” substitute “a supplementary prescriber or independent nurse prescriber”; and

(c) the definition of “nurse prescriber” is omitted.

(3) Regulation 2(2) is omitted.

(4) In Schedule 2 (terms of service for chemists) –

(a) in paragraph 2 –

(i) in sub-paragraph (1)(a) and (b), after “doctor”, at both places where it occurs, insert “or a supplementary prescriber”,

(ii) in sub-paragraph (1)(d) and (e), for “a nurse prescriber” at both places where it occurs, substitute “an independent nurse prescriber”,

(iii) in sub-paragraph (7) for “dentist or nurse prescriber” substitute “dentist, a supplementary prescriber or an independent nurse prescriber”,

(iv) in sub-paragraphs (9) and (10), for “dentist or nurse prescriber” substitute “dentist, supplementary prescriber or independent nurse prescriber”, and

(v) in sub-paragraph (12) after “doctor” insert “, supplementary prescriber or independent nurse prescriber”;

(b) in paragraph 7(2) for “or by a nurse prescriber” substitute “, or by a supplementary prescriber or an independent nurse prescriber,”; and

(c) in paragraphs 14(1), (2) and 14A, before “a nurse prescriber” at each place where it occurs, insert “supplementary prescriber or an independent”.

(1)

Approved by S.I. 1983/873, to which there are amendments not relevant to these Regulations

(2)

S.I. 2002/253

(3)

1954 c. 61

(4)

S.I. 1976/1213 (N.I. 22)