Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending independent prescribing rights to Operating Department Practitioners (ODPs); and whether his Department has plans to review the eligibility of ODPs to undertake non-medical prescribing qualifications and progress into Advanced Clinical Practitioner roles on the same basis as other Allied Health Professionals, including radiographers and paramedics.

Operating department practitioners are registered allied health professionals who support patients before, during, and after surgery, including in operating theatres and recovery areas.

The Government has no current plans to allow operating department practitioners to prescribe medicines independently. However, the Department has recently consulted on whether they should be able to use Patient Group Directions. These would allow them to supply and administer specified medicines to defined groups of patients without a prescription, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. The consultation received responses from healthcare professionals, organisations, and members of the public. The Government will publish a response, setting out next steps, in due course.