Changes have been made to facilitate how prescription-only medicines, including controlled drugs, can be supplied to patients by pharmacists in relation to COVID-19 to ensure continued care and treatment for patients.
The changes amend the Medicinal Products (Prescription and Control of Supply) Regulations 2003 (as amended) and the Misuse of Drugs Regulations 2017 (as amended).
The purpose of these changes is to ensure continuity of care and access to treatment for patients and to reduce some of the burden on prescribers and the broader healthcare system.
Joint Guidance
To assist pharmacists and prescribers, the PSI, Medical Council and HSE published
joint guidance setting out the amendments to the legislation for supply of prescription-only medicines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
You can access the updated regulations using the links below:
Professional judgement and collaboration
Changes in the legislation enable pharmacists to make additional supplies of prescription-only medicines to patients without obtaining a new prescription from the prescriber, where in the pharmacist’s professional judgement it is safe and appropriate to do so.
Pharmacists should discuss the patient’s treatment with them to ensure that it is appropriate and necessary for their continued care for further supplies to be made. This places significant emphasis on a pharmacist’s professional decision making, and the
Code of Conduct can be used as a supportive framework within which pharmacists feel able to exercise their professional judgement, including in emergency or exceptional situations, motivated only by the core concern to provide safe and appropriate patient care.
Collaboration between prescriber and pharmacist remains vital, and the pharmacist should contact the prescriber to discuss the patient’s care if in doubt as to whether it is the intention of the prescriber for a continued supply of a medicine to be made, or the pharmacist wishes to obtain further information on whether it is safe or in the patient’s best interest to do so.