Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of allowing qualified non-medical prescribers to prescribe (a) dihydrocodeine, (b) testosterone and (c) other controlled drugs on women’s healthcare.

The Department supports non-medical professions to use legal mechanisms to prescribe, administer and/or supply medicines to patients, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. Some non-medical healthcare professionals train as independent prescribers, allowing them to prescribe a wide range of medicines, including testosterone, dihydrocodeine and some controlled drugs, within their professional scope of practice. In addition, some non-medical professions can also supply and/or administer specified controlled drugs via Patient Group Directions.

The Department also supports further expansion of medicines responsibilities of non-medical healthcare professionals. Officials are carefully considering proposals relating to a range of healthcare professionals, as part of wider work concerning non-medical prescribing. However, currently, the Department has made no assessment of the potential impact of allowing qualified non-medical prescribers to prescribe dihydrocodeine, testosterone and other controlled drugs as part of women’s health care.