The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) and (General Medical Services) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2002
Citation, commencement, interpretation and application1.
(1)
These Regulations may be cited as the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) and (General Medical Services) (Amendment) (Wales) Regulations 2002 and shall come into force on 1st January 2003.
(2)
In these Regulations—
(3)
These Regulations apply to Wales only.
Amendment of the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations 19922.
(1)
The Pharmaceutical Services Regulations 1992 shall be amended as follows.
(2)
In paragraph (1) of regulation 2 (interpretation)—
(a)
(b)
(c)
““ nurse prescriber” means a person who is registered in Parts 1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 or 15 of the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council pursuant to paragraph 10 of Schedule 2 to the Nursing and Midwifery Order 20017 and against whose name is recorded in that register an annotation signifying that he or she is qualified to order drugs, medicines and appliances for patients;” ; and
(d)
““ restricted availability appliance” means an appliance which is approved for particular categories of persons or particular purposes only;”.
(3)
(4)
In regulation 18(1) (standards of, and payments for, drugs and appliances), in sub-paragraph (a), at the end, insert “and, in the case of a restricted availability appliance, the categories of persons for whom or purposes for which the appliance is approved”.
(5)
(6)
In Part II of Schedule 2 (terms of service for chemists)—
(a)
(i)
in sub-paragraph (a), after “or appliances,” insert “not being restricted availability appliances,”;
(ii)
“(bb)
an order for a restricted availability appliance, signed by and endorsed on its face with the reference “SLS” by a doctor; or”;
(iii)
“(d)
an order for drugs or medicines, or listed appliances, not being restricted availability appliances, signed by a nurse prescriber”; and
(iv)
“or
(e)
an order for a restricted availability appliance, signed by and endorsed on its face with the reference “SLS” by a nurse prescriber,”;
(b)
(i)
in sub-paragraph (b), delete “and”;
(ii)
in sub-paragraph (c), at the end, insert “; and”; and
(iii)
“(d)
he shall provide the for patient a restricted availability appliance only if the patient is a person, or it is for a purpose, specified in the Drug Tariff.”;
(c)
(i)
“(2)
Where a patient presents an order on a prescription form for drugs or medicines or listed appliances signed by a nurse prescriber, or an order for a restricted availability appliance signed by and endorsed on its face with the reference “SLS” by a nurse prescriber, to a doctor who is authorised or required by regulation 20 to provide drugs or appliances to that patient, the doctor may provide to the patient such of the drugs, medicines or appliances so ordered as he supplies in the normal course of his practice.”; and
(ii)
in sub-paragraph (3), omit the word “listed” the first time it occurs;
(d)
(e)
in paragraph 12(2), after “in this paragraph”, insert “or paragraph 11” and after “a scheduled drug”, insert “or a restricted availability appliance”.
Amendment of the General Medical Services Regulations 19923.
(1)
The General Medical Services Regulations 1992 shall be amended as follows.
(2)
In Schedule 2 to the General Medical Services Regulations (terms of service for doctors)—
(a)
““restricted availability appliance” means an appliance which is approved for particular categories of persons or particular purposes only;”;
(b)
in sub-paragraph (5) of paragraph 43 (prescribing)—
(i)
omit the words “or an appliance”;
(ii)
“(6)
In a case of urgency a doctor may request a chemist to dispense an appliance before a prescription form is issued only if—
(a)
(b)
in the case of a restricted availability appliance, the patient is a person, or it is for a purpose, specified in the Drug Tariff; and
(c)
he undertakes to furnish the chemist, within 72 hours, with a prescription form completed in accordance with sub-paragraph (2).”.
(c)
“(3)
In the course of treating such a patient a doctor shall not order on a prescription form a restricted availability appliance unless—
(a)
the patient is a person, or it is for a purpose, specified in the Drug Tariff; and
(b)
the doctor endorses the face of the form with the reference “SLS”,
but may otherwise prescribe such an appliance for that patient in the course of that treatment.”.
(3)
In Schedule 11 (drugs to be prescribed under pharmaceutical services only in certain circumstances), after “Sildenafil (Viagra)” in columns 1 and 2 respectively, insert “, Apomorphine Hydrochloride (Uprima)”.
These Regulations further amend the National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 1992 (“the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations”) which govern the arrangements for the provision of pharmaceutical services under the National Health Service Act 1977 and the National Health Service (General Medical Services) Regulations 1992 (“the General Medical Services Regulations”) which regulate the terms on which doctors provide general medical services under the National Health Service Act 1977.
Regulation 3(3) of these Regulations adds Apomorphine Hydrochloride (Uprima) to Schedule 11 to the General Medical Services Regulations, which lists the drugs and other substances that may only be prescribed in certain circumstances in the course of pharmaceutical services provided under the National Health Service Act 1977.
The amendments within regulation 2 and 3(1) and (2) amend both sets of Regulations to take account of the fact that certain appliances may be available for prescription within the National Health Service only in circumstances that are specified by the National Assembly for Wales in the Drug Tariff.
Regulation 2(c) of these Regulations extends the definition of “nurse prescriber” in the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations to reflect the extended responsibilities granted to certain nurses. The determination of the National Assembly for Wales as to those drugs, medicines and listed appliances which may be ordered by nurse prescribers is currently set out in Part XVIIB of the Drug Tariff, copies of which may be obtained from the Stationery Office, PO Box 29, Norwich NR3 1GN.
Regulation 2(2)(b), (3) and (6) also make changes to the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations consequential upon the commencement of section 42 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001, which substituted section 41 to the National Health Service Act 1977.
Regulation 2(2)(a) corrects a numbering error in the Pharmaceutical Services Regulations.