Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to bring forward legislative proposals to allow pharmacies to independently proscribe medication.

There are no legislative barriers for pharmacists who are appropriately trained to independently prescribe. The 10-Year Health Plan set out how we will transition community pharmacy from being focused largely on dispensing medicines to becoming integral to the Neighbourhood Health Service, which will include making prescribing part of the National Health Services delivered by community pharmacists.

Earlier this year, we laid legislation to modernise legislation governing the supervision of activities by a pharmacist in a pharmacy. This legislation, which will come into effect following a transition period, is intended to make greater use of the wider pharmacy workforce, such as registered pharmacy technicians, in dispensing therefore freeing up pharmacists to deliver more clinical services.