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 prevent patients from gaining commercially from prescriptions.

Clinicians will only prescribe medicines that they believe are in the clinical interest of the patient, and in line with best clinical practice guidelines, including those developed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Clinicians will weigh the benefits and risks of any medicine for an individual patient before making a prescribing decision. The prescribing options should be discussed carefully with the patient.

Where there is evidence of diversion and illicit supply of medicines from legitimate prescriptions, the Government may consider scheduling of medicines under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971, which includes strict controls on the prescription, supply and monitoring of medicines.