# The National Health Service (General Dental Services Contracts) Regulations 2005, Paragraph 19: Issue of prescription forms

Extent: E+W

(1) A prescriber shall order listed drugs, medicines or appliances (other than those supplied under paragraph 18) as are required for the treatment of any patient to whom it is providing services under the contract by issuing to the patient a prescription form.
(2) Every prescription form shall—
(a) be signed by a prescriber;
(b) be issued separately to each patient to whom the contractor is providing services under the contract; and
(c) be issued—
(i) to the patient as a non-electronic prescription form; or
(ii) as an electronic prescription form in accordance with sub-paragraph (3).
(3) A prescriber may order drugs, medicines or appliances by means of an electronic prescription form, except in circumstances where—
(a) the prescription is for a controlled drug within the meaning of section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (which relates to controlled drugs and their classification for the purposes of that Act); and
(b) the drug is not for the time being specified in Schedules 2 to 5 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001.
(4) Where a prescription is for—
(a) a controlled drug within the meaning of section 2 of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971; and
(b) the drug is not for the time being specified in Schedules 4 or 5 to the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2001,
the words “for dental treatment only” must appear on the prescription form.
(5) For the purposes of this paragraph—
“advanced electronic signature” means an electronic signature which meets the following requirements—
(a)it is uniquely linked to the signatory;
(b)it is capable of identifying the signatory;
(c)it is created using electronic signature creation data that the signatory can, with a high level of confidence, use under the signatory’s sole control; and
(d)it is linked to the data signed in such a way that any subsequent change in the data is detectable;
“electronic prescription form” means data created in an electronic form for the purpose of ordering a drug, medicine or appliance, which—
(a)is signed, or is to be signed, with a prescriber’s advanced electronic signature;
(b)is transmitted, or is to be transmitted, via the NHS Electronic Prescription Service; and
(c)does not indicate that the drug, medicine or appliance ordered may be provided more than once;
“NHS Electronic Prescription Service” means the service of that name which is managed by NHS England;
“non-electronic prescription form” means a form that is not in an electronic format but which is for the purpose of ordering a drug, medicine or appliance and is supplied for the purposes of this paragraph by NHS England.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2005/3361/schedule/3/paragraph/19 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/national-health-service-general-dental-services-contracts-regulations-2005/schedule-3/paragraph-19
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.