Extended prescribing by UK nurses and pharmacists

I strongly believe that, prescribing by nurses and pharmacists is
very good idea the UK Department of Health has come up with.
I agree that it’s not safe to prescribe without training in diagnosis but
what if they are trained. They can be definitely trained in diagnosing
acute emergencies and prescribe in time, rather than wait for a medical
practioner and lose the patient. We can’t afford to lose our patients just
because somebody who knows but cant prescribe as he/she is not authorised.

Our primary concern is safety of patients. Nurses and Pharmacists can be
trained to diagnose a limited number of emergencies and prescribe a
limited number of life saving drugs and also the safe drugs with fewer
interactions. This will serve two purposes one save patients life and also
help cut down on the busy schedules medical practioners and thus leading
to better and safe medical practice.

It’s certainly true that nurses and Pharmacists can't be allowed to
prescribe any drug from the BNF. Their training is limited and so the
power to prescribe should be limited. I agree that studies might be
reassuring but if we expect that nurses won’t be prescribing for major
drugs and major conditions why give them power to prescribe these
independently.

I would like to conclude by saying that extreme of anything is bad, Nurses
and Pharmacists should allowed to prescribe but with limitations.

Competing interests:
None declared