Medicine And Law Part 2 Flashcards
What legislation governs the sale and supply of medicines?
- The Medicines Act 1968
- The Human Medicines Regulations 2012
What is the purpose of The Medicines Act 1968?
- Regulates the use of medicines in the UK
- Medicines must obtain a Marketing Authorisation from the MHRA
Define a medicinal product:
- Any substanve or combination of substances presented as having properties of preventing or treating diseases in humans
Or - products which may be used or administered to human beings with a view to restore, correct or modify physiological function by exerting a pharmacological, immunlogical or metabolic action
Or - Products to make a medical diagnosis
Define medicinal purpose:
Used for:
- Treating or preventing disease
- Diagnosing disease or ascertaining the existence, degree or extent of a physilogical condition
- Contraception
- Inducing anesthesia
- Preventing or interfering with the normal operation of a physiological function
Describe the purpose of getting medicinal products licensed:
- New medications are granted a licence under The Human Medicines Regulations 2012
- This follows intensive research and trials into safety and effectiveness
- Sets out indications for use as well as the appropriate dose
- Prescribing and supply outside of the licence carries implications of greater liability for both the prescriber and the pharmacist
What are the three classes of medicines for human use:
POM
P
GSL
Discuss the restrictions of POM medications:
- Generally supply is restricted to requiring a prescription from an appropriate practitioner (authorised prescriber)
- Originally only doctors, dentists and vets could prescribe (medical prescribers)
- Now some other healthcare professionals invluding pharmacists may qualify to prescribe these (non-medical prescribers)
- In some emergency situations pharmacists can supply these medicines without a prescription
What is a medical prescription?
- A communicaiton between the prescriber and the pharmacist
- Can be via a paper documnet, electronic communication or verbally communicated
- An order for a medicine for a particular individual with instructions for use
What is a prescription?
- An order or instruction to supply medicine to an indivdually named patient
- Written and issued by an appropriate practitioner (authorised prescriber)
- By law it must contain certain information
- Legal requirments are determined by both the type of prescription and the medicinal product itself
List the legal requirements of private prescriptions:
- Written in indelible ink (e.g. typewriting or computer generated)
- Signed in ink by the appropriate practitioner (prescriber) giving it
- Address of the appropriate practitioner giving it
- Appropriate date
- An indication of the kind of the appropriate practitioner giving it
- Name and address of the patient
- The persons age if the patient is under 12 years old
- Not dispensed after the end of the period of six months of the appropriate date (unless repeatable)
Patient details legally required for a prescription:
- Name of the patient (ideally the full name and title)
- Address, enough that you can locate the person again but does not legally have to include the postcode
- Age is required only if the patient is under 12 years old
(Date of birth is not legally required)
A prescriptino has been generated for a medicine. What information must be provided in regards to the medicine supplied?
- Name of the medicine
- Strength of the medicine
- Dosage of the medicine
- Formulation of the medicine
- Total amount to be dispensed (legal requirment for NHS prescriptions only)
- Directions for use (how to take/use the medicine, can be written ‘as directed’)
What should you do if a prescription is incomplete?
- Attempt to contact the prescriber to confirm intentions
- Return the prescirption to the prescriber for details of quanitity, strength and dose to be inserted
What prescriber details must be written on a prescription?
- Address opf the prescriber
- Details of the kind of prescriber (indicaiton of qualifications) (Can include registration number or post-nominal letters)
- For Doctors and dentists, they can be registered in the Uk, EEA or switzerland
Discuss repeatable POM medicine prescriptions:
- Repeatable prescriptions may be dispesned more than once
- Can only be Private Prescriptions
- All the usual legal private prescription requirements must be met
- FIrst dispensing must be within six months for POM medicines and 28 days for controlled drugs
- Prescriptions must be recorded in the private prescription register
- The prescription must state repeat and can state how many times a prescription can be repeated (except from OCP’s)
- For most POM medicines, if the prescription states repeat it can be dispensed twice - the original dispensing and one repeat
- If a prescription states ‘repeat x3” it can be dispensed 4 times
Discuss controlled drug repeatable prescriptions:
- No repeatable prescriptions for schedules 2 and 3
- Schedule 4 and 5 drugs can be repeated
- First dispensing of schedule 4 drugs must be within 28 days
- First dispensing of schedule 5 drugs must be within 6 months
Discuss oral contraceptive repeatable prescriptions”
- Private prescriptions only
- All usual legal requirments of private prescriptions must be met
- First dispensing must be within 6 months
- Prescription must be recorded in the private prescriptino register
- If the prescription states repeat and there is no number of repeats stated, the prescription may be dispensed 6 times within 6 months of the appropriate date
Discuss the record keeping and endorsements required for private prescriptions:
- Record all the information required for a private prescription
- Include the information about the repeat
- Ensure you allocate a referene number
- State whether this is the first, second or third etc supply
- Stamp the prescription with the pharmacy name, address and write the date of dispensing and reference numberon the prescription
- On the final dispense, the pharmacist keeps the prescription and must retian it for 2 years