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 impact of The Misuse of Drugs (England, Wales, and Scotland) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulation 2023 on patient care.

The Department remains committed to exploring the extension of medicine responsibilities for non-medical professionals, where it is safe and appropriate to do so. This will support the aim that patients are cared for, and treated by, the most appropriate healthcare professional to meet their needs.

Many regulated healthcare professionals have already received extended medicine responsibilities and prescribing rights, and the Department is committed to assessing the impact that these changes have had on patient care. No specific assessment of the impact of the Misuse of Drugs (England, Wales, and Scotland) (Amendment) (No.2) Regulation 2023 has been made so far. The Department is progressing with work to better understand the uptake of current medicine responsibilities, including prescribing responsibilities, for professions such as paramedics.

There is a process in place for making changes to prescribing responsibilities to ensure proposals are safe and beneficial for patients. The Department is carefully considering proposals for the extension of such responsibilities to a range of healthcare professionals, and will review outstanding requests as quickly as possible.