2006 No. 246

NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2006

Made

Laid before the Scottish Parliament

Coming into force

The Scottish Ministers in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 27(2), 69(1), 105(7) and 108(1) of the National Health Service (Scotland) Act 19781 and of all other powers enabling them in that behalf, hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and interpretation1

These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2006 and shall come into force on 31st May 2006.

Amendment of the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Regulation 20012

In regulation 2(1) (interpretation) of the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations 20012–

a

for the definition of “independent nurse prescriber”3 substitute–

  • “independent nurse prescriber” means a person–

    1. a

      who is registered in the Nursing and Midwifery Register; and

    2. b

      against whose name is recorded in that register an annotation signifying that he or she is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances as a community practitioner nurse prescriber, a nurse independent prescriber or a nurse independent/supplementary prescriber;

b

for the definition of “nurses and midwives' professional register”4 substitute–

  • “Nursing and Midwifery Register” means the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 20015;

c

for the definition of “supplementary prescriber”6 substitute–

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

    1. a

      the Nursing and Midwifery Register;

    2. b

      the Register of Pharmaceutical Chemists maintained in pursuance of section 2(1) of the Pharmacy Act 19547;

    3. c

      the register maintained in pursuance of Articles 6 and 9 of the Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 19768;

    4. d

      the part of the register maintained by the Health Professions Council in pursuance of article 5 of the Health Professions Order 20019 relating to–

      1. i

        chiropodists and podiatrists;

      2. ii

        physiotherapists; or

      3. iii

        diagnostic or therapeutic radiographers; or

    5. e

      the register of optometrists maintained by the General Optical Council in pursuance of section 7 of the Opticians Act 198910,

    and against whose name is recorded in the relevant register an annotation signifying that he or she is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances as a supplementary prescriber or, in the case of the Nursing and Midwifery Register, a nurse independent/supplementary prescriber;

LEWIS MACDONALDAuthorised to sign by the Scottish MinistersSt Andrew’s House,Edinburgh

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations amend the National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) (Scotland) Regulations 2001 (“the principal Regulations”) which provide for the making and recovery of charges for drugs, medicines and appliances supplied by chemists providing pharmaceutical services, doctors providing services under a general medical services contract or section 17C arrangements, or by Health Boards to out-patients.

These Regulations make changes to the principal Regulations as a consequence of new arrangements for the independent prescribing of drugs, medicines and appliances by nurses. Independent nurse prescribers, unless they are community practitioner nurse prescribers, will no longer be limited to prescribing from a particular formulary.

Regulation 2(a) substitutes a new definition of “independent nurse prescriber”.

Regulation 2(b) substitutes a new definition of the “Nursing and Midwifery Register” in place of the existing definition of “nurses and midwifes professional register”.

Regulation 2(c) substitutes a new definition of “supplementary prescriber”.