Nurses will be allowed to prescribe certain medicines to patients under new plans due to be announced by Health Minister Mary Harney.
Statutory provision for the move is provided for in the Irish Medicines Board Act 2006, and draft regulations have already been completed. Under the regulations, nurses will be able to prescribe a broad range of drugs, although specific restrictions will apply on certain controlled drugs.
The European Commission has been notified of the plan, and it is hoped the regulations will be signed by Minister for Health Mary Harney at the end of a three month-notification period, providing there are no objections from other EU Member States. Nurses will have to be employed by a health service provider to issue prescriptions and and will only prescribe the drugs relevant to the setting in which they are employed.
The Irish Nurses Organisation has welcomed the move to allow nurses and midwives to prescribe certain medicines to patients under new legislation planned by the Department of Health.