Checklist

Use our checklist to sort your admin before you start prescribing:

1. Annotation – Update the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register with your annotation
2. Indemnity – Arrange appropriate professional indemnity cover  
3. Prescriber codes and pads – Arrange to get your prescriber codes and prescription pads
4. Smartcard – Update your smartcard (England only)
5. Limitations – Understand your scope of practice and how to manage expectations 
6. Network – Connect with other prescribers.

1. Annotation

Once you have gained your qualification, it’s important to get your annotations as a prescriber with your regulatory body before you start prescribing. 

Details on applying for annotation on the GPhC register can be found on the GPhC website. 

2. Indemnity

It’s a regulatory requirement to have appropriate indemnity cover for your role and practice. Further information can be found on the professional indemnity requirements page on the GPhC website. 

Before arranging your own indemnity for your prescribing work, consider the following:

1. Understand your job role thoroughly by going through your job description and seeing where you’ll require indemnity cover for.  
2. If your employer has made indemnity arrangements for you, check this provides appropriate cover in respect of risks in your prescribing role.
3. Be aware of the different types of cover available by enquiring with several indemnity providers.
4. Consider factors that could influence your decision when choosing cover, such as cost, insurance speciality and coverage specifics.
5. If you are sub-contracted to provide prescribing services for a health board or integrated care board (ICB), you should ensure that you are indemnified before undertaking the role.

3. Prescriber codes

England 

Pharmacist prescribers usually need two codes on their prescriptions: 

• An individual prescriber code – this is your GPhC number.
• A practice code or cost-centre code.

If you work in a hospital, you may have only one code that is the hospital unit code. 

For information on overprint specifications for prescriptions and electronic prescription service (EPS) prescriptions and tokens, see the NHS business services authority (BSA) website.

If you contact your sub-ICB location, it’ll inform the NHS BSA on your behalf to set you up as a prescriber. You’ll need to contact them if your details change or if you leave to work at another practice. Details of your local ICB can be found on the NHS.UK website.

Scotland

For community pharmacy: 

• See Community Pharmacy Scotland – a hub for all information relating to community pharmacy
  • Each health board has its own page and may have their own internal process – you can find links to the NHS health boards on the Community Pharmacy Scotland website.

For NHS-employed staff:

• Each health board has its own page and may have their own internal process – you can find links to the NHS health boards on the on the Community Pharmacy Scotland website
• Your line manager will be able to direct you to the appropriate personnel to apply for a cipher number. 

We can also annotate you are an IP on your NHS Education for Scotland Turas account on the My Tyras website under Training Management – Prescriber details. 

Wales

If you work in community pharmacy, you’ll need to:

• Complete and submit the ‘declaration for initial entry to the NHS Wales approved List of Pharmacist Independent Prescribers form’(access via NHS email account) to the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership. For further information on service sign up requirements for prescribers, see the Community Pharmacy Wales (CPW) website. On the CPW PIPs page you will find an ‘IP one page summary’ and ‘PIPs FAQs’ which you may find useful.
• Complete the annual declaration form to remain on the NHS Wales approved list of prescribers and continue providing the Pharmacy Independent Prescribing Service (PIPS). For further information see the CPW website.
• Request a unique prescribing number (“J number”) for each pharmacy you provide the service in. To request a J number, see the Shared Services Partnership website.
• On the CPW PIPs page you will also find an ‘IP one page summary’ which may be useful as well as the ‘PIPs FAQs’.

Prescription pads/tokens

England 

To order prescription pads (FP10s), you’ll need to contact your local NHS organisation or hospital trust, or see the NHS BSA website for further information.

You can also order NHS prescription pads and EPS tokens from the Primary Care Support England portal. 

Remember to keep prescription pads safely – see the Care Quality Commission website for further information. 

Scotland

For community pharmacy:

• There is a PCA detailing what you need to do to obtain prescription pads, see prescription stationary arrangements for pharmacist independent prescribers providing the pharmacy first plus service PCA(P)(2021)10 – Stationery Arrangements (Community Pharmacy Scotland).
• See Community Pharmacy Scotland – a hub for all information relating to community pharmacy.
  • Each health board has its own page and may have their own internal process – you can find links to the NHS health boards on the Community Pharmacy Scotland website.

For NHS-employed staff:

• Each health board has its own page and may have their own internal process – you can find links to the NHS health boards on the Community Pharmacy Scotland website.
• Your line manager will be able to direct you to the appropriate personnel to apply for a any relevant stationary.

Wales

If you work in hospital or GP practice, contact your Trust, Local Health Board (see NHS Wales website) or nominated individual at your GP practice, who can order prescriptions through NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Primary Care Services. For further information, see the Non Medical Prescribers – Registration & implementation guide on the NHS Wales Shared Services Partnership – Primary Care Services website.

4. Smartcard (England only)

You’ll need to contact your local registration authority (RA) to add your new prescriber role. 

You can find contact details of your local RA on the Community Pharmacy England website.

5. Limitations 

It’s important that you work within your scope of practice, and inform your employer of your scope, to ensure you practise safely. However, this will expand as you become more experienced and confident. Speak to your employer about your role, responsibility, scope, expectations (including salary), needs (e.g., longer appointment times, allocated time for repeats, telephone consultations and clinics) and ongoing support.

If you have been asked to work outside of your scope, first reflect and think about the training and the support you would need from your employer to meet this expectation. However, if this isn’t possible, it may be appropriate to politely refuse the request until you have the knowledge and skills to practice in this new area confidently and safely. You may want to discuss what you can do and ways your current skills could be used instead. 

Our prescribing scenarios guide includes considerations for when you’re asked to prescribe outside your scope of practice, such as authorising repeat prescriptions for another prescriber’s patient. You may also find our Pharmacists in General Practice: Repeat Prescribing Position Statement useful.

To build your confidence, you could develop a personal formulary. This can be reviewed and updated when required. It will help you show that you are prescribing safely within your scope by providing details of what you can prescribe and when you need to refer to your colleagues. Find out how to develop a personal formulary using the World Health Organization (WHO) guide to good prescribing: a practice manual.

When you’re ready to expand your scope, our expanding prescribing scope of practice framework can help.

6. Network

Now’s a great time to connect with other prescribers. 

Join the mentoring platform if you’re struggling or looking for a mentor in a particular or specialist area of practice. 

NHS Networks is a good place to make connections. We also signpost to additional networks on our prescribing guidance page.

In your day-to-day practice

Prescribe safely and confidently 

As a prescriber, you are personally accountable and responsible for your prescribing and clinical decisions. It’s all about patient safety, so it’s important you understand the legal and ethical implications.

You’re encouraged to use your professional codes of conduct, standards and A Competency Framework for All Prescribers to ensure you’re prescribing safely and confidently. See the GPhC website for all your regulatory requirements.

The 12 ways to prescribe safely and confidently guide (link to be added soon) can help you further to improve your practice.

Dilemmas

In your practice, you may face situations with several courses of action, such as deciding whether to prescribe a medicine or not. You may need to weigh up obligations that restrict your actions, such as person-centred care with professional obligations.

To help you navigate these situations, our prescribing scenarios guide breaks down specific scenarios and what professional guidance says about them, such as repeats, prescribing for friends and family, prescribing medicines online and more. You’ll also find signposting to additional resources if you need a bit more help making your decision, such as our professional judgement guide (link to be added soon).

Record keeping  

Clinical documentation is the only evidence of an interaction or activity having taken place. A concise, legible, contemporaneous and accurate clinical record could help support you in a legal case, complaint or error. Clinical documentation also provides effective communication of information between other healthcare professionals.

Our guide on clinical documentation covers documentation of clinical activity such as findings, interventions, referrals, reviews, consultations, prescribing, administering, service delivery, decisions and advice.

Information on record keeping, such as CD records, emergency supplies, private prescriptions or errors, can be found in the MEP and relevant pharmacy guides.

Webinar

Check out our webinar Passed your prescribing course – what next? to delve into the annotation process, indemnity and more.