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 prescribing rights for stop smoking medicines to (a) dentists, (b) opticians and (c) specialist nurses.

On 4 October 2023, as part of the Prime Minister’s smokefree generation announcement, the Government also announced an additional £70 million of funding per year to local stop smoking services to help even more people to quit smoking. Local authorities will work with a range of local partners to deliver this. The announcement is available at the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stopping-the-start-our-new-plan-to-create-a-smokefree-generation

Dentists are all qualified prescribers. Several health professions can undertake training to independently prescribe including nurses and optometrists. This allows healthcare professionals who have the necessary skills and experience to prescribe within their area of professional competence. These professionals would need to have the necessary skills in prescribing nicotine replacement therapy and have been commissioned to provide the service.