Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to allow CQC-registered drug and alcohol treatment providers, including charities, to use the NHS Electronic Prescription Service in place of paper instalment prescriptions.

The Department is working with NHS England to extend the NHS Electronic Prescription Service (EPS) to include instalment dispensing for the FP10MDA, or controlled drugs, prescription type. This will allow eligible services, including drug and alcohol treatment providers and community pharmacies, to use EPS rather than paper prescriptions where this is appropriate.