Explanatory note

These Regulations make consequential changes to three sets of National Health Service Regulations that apply in England. The changes arise out of new arrangements for the independent prescribing of drugs and appliances by nurses and pharmacists. Independent nurse prescribers, unless they are community practitioner nurse prescribers, will no longer be limited to prescribing from a particular formulary, and nor will a new category of independent prescriber known as pharmacist independent prescribers.

The National Health Service (Charges for Drugs and Appliances) Regulations 2000 are amended to take account of the fact that the revised and new categories of independent prescribers may be acting as prescribers in walk-in centres, and possibly issuing repeatable prescriptions. The National Health Service (Pharmaceutical Services) Regulations 2005 are also amended to take account of the revised and new categories of prescribers – and in particular of the possibility that pharmacists will be dispensing against prescriptions, including repeatable prescriptions, issued by them. The National Health Services (Local Pharmaceutical Services etc.) Regulations 2006 are amended to take account of the terminology that is to be used for annotations in the register maintained by the Nursing and Midwifery Council to describe the qualifications for the various types of independent nurse prescriber.